broad revulsion at Trump’s threats<\/a> earlier this year against NATO ally Denmark over his demand that the country give Greenland to the United States.<\/p>\nTrump tied the two issues together on Wednesday, complaining that NATO didn’t help more in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cNATO WASN\u2019T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON\u2019T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,\u201d he wrote on social media. “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”<\/p>\n
Daniel Baer, a former ambassador and State Department official in President Barack Obama’s administration, said the latest round of tension with Europe’s far right shows the limits of Trump’s hope of helping nationalist leaders worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding some sort of international coalition around national chauvinism is very difficult,\u201d said Baer, now with the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. \u201cIt’s clear the majority of people in these countries, if not anti-American, have turned anti-Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n has stood out for not shifting with the anti-Trump political tide in Europe. <\/p>\n
In an interview with conservative British broadcaster GB News last month, Orb\u00e1n argued that when it came to the war with Iran, \u201cthe question is whether (Trump) has started a war or a peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t (been) decided yet, historians will make a decision on that,\u201d Orb\u00e1n said. \u201cI think we need some time to understand whether we are moving to the peace by these strikes, or just the opposite. It\u2019s too early to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n\u2019s caution toward raising any critical word toward Trump goes beyond shared ideology. The Hungarian leader has for years sought to convince voters that his close ties with Trump \u2014 as well as with other global figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin \u2014 make him uniquely suited to represent Hungary\u2019s interests abroad.<\/p>\n
Consequently, he has played up Trump\u2019s praise of him to his base, and campaigned for reelection by assuring Hungarians that his alliance with Trump\u2019s administration is a guarantee of security and prosperity.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n reveled in the attention from Vance this week. The vice president slammed Orb\u00e1n critics in the European Union for what he called \u201cforeign interference\u201d in the election, even as he stumped for the Hungarian leader. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Vance briefly discussed what he called a \u201cfragile truce\u201d in the Iran war during an appearance at an elite higher education institution in Hungary, which has received generous funding from Orb\u00e1n’s government and is run by the prime minister’s political director. <\/p>\n
Vance praised the school for being \u201can institution that tries to build up the foundations of Western civilization.” The Trump administration has tried to exert more influence over elite universities in the U.S., echoing Orb\u00e1n’s agenda in Hungary.<\/p>\n
Some analysts are unconvinced of Orb\u00e1n’s strategy, noting that perceptions of the current U.S. administration have been turning more negative even in Hungary. <\/p>\n
\u201cVance\u2019s visit could have the opposite effect on Orb\u00e1n’s popularity than the one intended,\u201d said Mario Bikarsku, senior Europe analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.<\/p>\n
Kupchan said most European far-right parties have established political staying power independent of any American influence, and may not have an incentive to go along with Trump’s agenda. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump’s effort to create a transnational movement of far-right populists may affect the margins, but the main reason you’re seeing Reform U.K. and AfD and National Rally and other far-right parties prosper has little to do with Trump and more to do with national factors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Part of that is a global backlash against any party in power. In Europe, that’s mainly benefited the out-of-power far-right. But in Hungary, that’s put Orb\u00e1n’s future in jeopardy \u2014 he’s been in power for 16 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re living in an age,\u201d Kupchan said, \u201cwhere being an incumbent sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Riccardi reported from Denver.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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