Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) condemned members of his own party for embracing a “cult of personality” around Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán Wednesday on the Senate floor.
“I’ve spoken before about Hungary’s decade-long drift into the orbit of the West’s most determined adversaries. It’s an alarming trend. And nobody — certainly not the American conservatives who increasingly form a cult of personality around Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — can pretend not to see it,” McConnell fumed.
Right-wing Republicans have grown increasingly affectionate toward Orbán due to his cozy relationship with former President Trump. Orbán’s hard-line policies on immigration and support for anti-LGBTQ laws have made him a darling of the far right.
During Trump’s debate against Vice President Harris earlier this month, he pointed to the Hungarian leader as proof of his support among foreign leaders.
“Let me just say about world leaders, Viktor Orbán, one of the most respected men, they call him a strong man. He’s a tough person. Smart prime minister of Hungary. They said, ‘Why is the whole world blowing up?’” Trump said at the time.
“He said, ‘Because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid.’ And I don’t like to use the word ‘afraid,’ but I’m just quoting him.”
Trump has also repeatedly met with Orbán, both in the White House and since leaving. The pair met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida over the summer, where they reportedly discussed peace between Russia and Ukraine.
McConnell on Wednesday pointed out Hungary’s problematic relations with Russia and China, both adversaries of the U.S. While Hungary is a member of NATO, it has not supplied Ukraine with weapons after Russia’s invasion in 2022 and held up Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.
“Hungary’s leaders aren’t cozying up to Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran in private. They’re doing it publicly and vocally as well,” said McConnell.
McConnell added that Orbán “doesn’t just admire” Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He helps him. His government runs interference for Moscow, gumming up European and transatlantic efforts to combat Russia’s unlawful aggression at every turn.”
Orbán has spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the U.S., and has been celebrated by far-right media personality Tucker Carlson. McConnell said Republicans had nothing to gain from the relationship.
“Hungary’s leaders have made no secret of their conviction that the future is one of American decline. They’re not hiding the ways they’re preparing for American weakness and betting on our failure,” McConnell concluded. “There’s nothing tough about bowing to autocrats. And there’s nothing for America’s leaders to gain by praising those who do.”
“Subservience to revanchist powers is not an American value. But far more importantly, it is not in America’s interests,” he added.