President Trump welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White House in what has been billed as a consequential meeting for the two conservative leaders nearly a year into Trump’s second administration.
Much of the visit centered around Orbán’s request that Trump provide Hungary with an exemption to continue importing Russian oil not subject to U.S. sanctions.
Trump also used the meeting to address domestic issues, including his administration’s message on affordability and his calls for Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster.
Here are five takeaways from Trump’s meeting with Orbán.
Trump, Orbán exchange pleasantries
The public portion of the bilateral meeting doubled as a love-fest of sorts between Trump and Orbán, who have long been seen as political allies on the global stage.
Trump pointed to Orban and called him a “great leader” before he escorted him inside of the White House. Orbán, who had the most to gain from the meeting, repeatedly mentioned what he said was a “golden age” between the US and Hungary under the Trump administration.
“What we need is a golden age,” Orbán said sitting next to Trump. “To open a golden age of the United States-Hungary relationship.”
The Hungarian leader also took a number of jabs at former President Biden, a move that Trump likely appreciated.
Trump also appeared to defend Orbán from his European critics and those imposing costs on Budapest’s democratic rollbacks.
“He’s a great leader and he’s respected all over. Not necessarily liked by some of the leaders, but those leaders are proven to be wrong,” the president said. If you look at Europe, they’ve made tremendous mistakes on immigration. It’s really hurting them very badly. He has not made a mistake on immigration. So he’s respected by everybody and liked by some.”
Trump renews call to eliminate filibuster
Trump renewed his pressure campaign on Senate Republicans to eliminate the parliamentary rule known the filibuster during his meeting.
The president has been calling for Republican leadership to nix the filibuster for days, but sought to assuage fears that such a move would backfire on the party if Democrats regained the majority in future elections.
“The Democrats will do this so if the Democrats are going to do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance,” Trump said. “If we do it, we will never lose the midterms and we will never lose a general election because we will have produced so many different things for our people, for the country, that it would be impossible to lose an election.”
Trump listed off pieces of Republican-backed legislation that could sail through the chamber if the procedure was done away with, including on measures related to voter ID laws, mail-in voting, and immigration.
The filibuster does give power to the minority party to block legislation, but GOP leadership including Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have warned that any move to eliminate the filibuster would backfire down the line.
The idea has gained traction among some GOP senators including Sens. Jim Banks (Indiana), Roger Marshall (Kansas), and Tommy Tuberville (Alabama). However, Thune has maintained there are currently not enough votes to eliminate the rule.
Hungary’s Russian oil purchases on the table
Trump hedged on whether he would push Orbán to end his country’s reliance on Russian oil and gas, a potential irritant in the relationship as the president has called for Europe to end all reliance on Russian energy.
But Trump focused any criticism on Europe as a whole, and appeared to adopt Budapest’s argument that its landlocked status makes it reliant on a major pipeline supplying oil from Russia – even though critics said the country has failed to take steps to diversify its supplies and its reliance is deliberate.
“They don’t have the advantage of having sea. It’s a great country, it’s a big country, but they don’t have sea,” Trump said.
“Hungary is in a different position, but many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years,” Trump said. Hungary and Slovakia are the two European countries still importing Russian oil while the rest of the European Union has stopped purchases. Imports of Russian gas to Europe was at 11 percent in 2024, compared to over 40 percent in 2021, the year before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The E.U. agreed in October to eliminate imports of Russian gas and oil by Jan. 1 2028.
Trump irritated by Walmart Thanksgiving meal question
Trump became visibly irritated when asked by an NBC News reporter about the size and price of Walmart’s annual holiday meal this year.
When the reporter cited this year’s meal as offering less food than last year’s meal, Trump dismissed her as “fake news” and claimed Americans are “feeling better about the country.”
The president has used the price of this year’s meal to support his claim that prices have gone down during his administration.
On Thursday, the president said in a post on TruthSocial that the issue of affordability was “dead” for Democrats, again referencing the cost of Walmart’s annual holiday meal.
But he did not mention that the meal includes fewer items this year and that some have been replaced with the Walmart brand instead of name brands. As a result, the meal this year will serve 10 people for under $4 per person. Last year, Walmart’s holiday meal served eight people for less than $7 per person, according to the company’s website.
Trump’s comments come after Democrats won races across the country on Tuesday, in large part, by zeroing in on the issue of affordability. Trump and Republicans used the same strategy in last year’s presidential elections when their party performed well nationwide.
Annual inflation rose to 3 percent in September, the same rate as when he took office in January, meaning prices are rising at the same rates as they were during the end of the Biden administration.
Trump, Orbán bond on Biden-bashing
Even though there appears to be a gap between Trump and Orbán over Russian oil-purchases, the deep friendship between the two conservatives, populist leaders was on display for the gathered press at the beginning of their lunch meeting.
Orbán was in safe company to let loose his frustrations with the former Biden administration, in which he claimed over the course of four years “everything was ruined” in the bilateral relationship.
A significant strain was the Biden administration’s imposition of visa restrictions on Hungarian passport holders over Hungary’s naturalization policies. Orbán visited Washington once during Biden’s term, to attend the NATO summit in July 2024.
“Everything was basically broke, ruined, canceled, a lot of harm done by the previous administration,” Orbán said.
Orbán also joked he wanted to hire away White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt after witnessing her full-throated defense for Trump’s policies and pushback against the press.
“That’s a very good decision you just made,” Trump joked, but didn’t signal he wanted to part with Leavitt.
Source: The Hill