The meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on November 7 was more than a routine encounter between two right-wing leaders. It signaled the potential emergence of a wider geopolitical change and the rise of a political philosophy long dismissed by Brussels elites and Western media as ‘populism,’ but in truth is the last bulwark against Europe’s civilizational decline.
“President Trump stood up for Hungary; this hasn’t happened in a long time,” Orbán declared after securing a comprehensive exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy imports. The victory was not just monetary but also deeply symbolic. The leader of the world’s most powerful nation treated the prime minister of a small Central European country with genuine respect rather than condescension. Trump hailed Orbán as a “great leader” and extolled his response to immigration as exemplary and a model for the rest of Europe.
The meeting’s outcomes were as friendly as its words. In addition to the sanctions exemption, Hungary obtained contracts to purchase American liquefied natural gas worth approximately $600 million and nuclear fuel from Westinghouse, and Trump personally defended Hungary against its European critics.
Orbán’s triumph in Washington is yet another manifestation of a broader phenomenon: the emergence of an international coalition of patriots that is steadily reshaping European politics. The Patriots for Europe alliance, launched on June 30, 2024, in Vienna alongside Austria’s Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, rapidly became the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament. By July 2024, the Patriots group commanded 84 seats across 12 countries—a political force that Orbán correctly predicted would “very quickly become the biggest faction of the European right.”
The postmodern West and the neo-patriotic East
The significance of Orbán’s rise and the growing success of the Patriots cannot be overstated: They are the counterrevolution to a fundamental divide that has emerged within Europe. Western Europe has embraced postmodernism: the systematic dismantling of the very civilizational pillars upon which its prosperity was built and the rejection of any broader narrative that could sustain Western civilization. The consequences can be seen almost everywhere: Churches stand empty, birth rates have collapsed, and the elites celebrate the replacement of their own populations as moral progress.
As I have argued elsewhere, the West abandoned its foundational principles when the West embraced multiculturalism, the idea that every culture is fundamentally the same. The results of this choice are manifested in the streets of Stockholm, Paris, and Brussels, where no-go zones proliferate and medieval barbarism has returned in the form of gangs wielding grenades and automatic weapons. Sweden, once a model of social democracy, now requires military intervention to combat gang wars. Germany has mosques where cathedrals once stood, and British politicians kowtow to demographics, forming their political position not on principle but on the numerical weight of religious communities.
Orbán as defender of Western civilization
It is against this backdrop that Viktor Orbán has emerged as a defender of Western civilization. Orbán’s transformation from an agnostic liberal in the 1990s to a defender of Christian Europe reflects not personal opportunism but a recognition of civilizational reality. As he noted in his 2019 address to the Second International Conference on Christian Persecution, Hungary’s survival over 1,100 years stems from King Stephen’s adoption of Christianity—it was “the key to our survival.” This is not mere historical nostalgia but a profound understanding that civilizations require a unifying set of values and beliefs, and for Europe, that is Christianity.
Orbán has positioned himself not as a reactionary but as a conservator—dedicated to preserving what is valuable against forces of destruction. His government has built churches, supported Christian communities in the Middle East through the Hungary Helps program, and provided schools and hospitals for persecuted Christians. While Western European capitals see their Christian populations dwindle and churches converted to nightclubs or mosques, Budapest has become a beacon for those who believe that European civilization is worth preserving.
Critically, this includes the Jewish community. Despite absurd accusations of antisemitism from his critics, Orbán has maintained what his government calls a “zero-tolerance policy” toward antisemitism. Hungary is home to the third-largest Jewish community in Europe, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has explicitly praised Hungary, stating, “we know Hungary is on our side.” When radical Islamism surged across Western Europe after October 7, 2023, Hungary saw no mobs waving Hamas flags or attacks on synagogues. As Orbán noted, “No one waves Hamas flags here, and no one ever will.”
Fair criticism or double standards?
None of this is to claim that Viktor Orbán is a flawless leader or that Hungary is without problems. Every government makes mistakes, and reasonable people can disagree about specific policies. What is deeply troubling, however, is not criticism of Hungary, but the double standards applied by Western media and Brussels institutions when evaluating Hungary versus other EU member states.
When Orbán’s government took measures to regulate media ownership, it was condemned as an assault on press freedom. Yet when French President Emmanuel Macron’s government cracked down on Yellow Vest protesters with a level of police violence unseen in Hungary, Western media looked the other way. When Hungary built border fences to control illegal immigration in 2015, it was denounced as inhumane. Today, Germany quietly builds its own border control without facing any of the condemnation Hungary endured.
The European Parliament has passed countless resolutions condemning Hungary for alleged rule-of-law violations, freezing billions in EU funds. Yet corruption in Spain, Italy, and Belgium barely generates a murmur. Hungary is threatened with sanctions for its judicial reforms, and Poland’s previous PiS government faced similar attacks, but when the current Polish government engages in actual political persecution of opposition figures, Brussels remains conspicuously silent.
Is Hungary’s media environment perfect? Of course not. But is it worse than in Spain, or in Italy, where media concentration under Silvio Berlusconi was far more extreme? The difference is that Orbán’s government challenges Brussels’ ideological consensus, and no amount of success or democratic legitimacy will spare him from attack. He represents an unacceptable vision for Europe, not the federal superstate envisioned by Brussels, but a “Europe of nations” that respects sovereignty while facilitating cooperation.
The stakes of the struggle
The alliance between Trump and Orbán, and the broader coalition of patriots emerging across Europe, is more profound than a tactical political alignment. It is a rearguard action in the battle for Western civilization—the civilization that produced Beethoven and Bach (now dismissed by the director of the Royal Albert Hall as “white male titans”), the civilization that created parliamentary democracy, the civilization that enshrined human rights and codified the rule of law.
Viktor Orbán is by no means perfect. Hungary faces real economic and demographic challenges, and reasonable critics can identify genuine problems. But in the grand sweep of European history, Orbán may well be remembered not as an authoritarian populist, but as one of the few leaders who recognized civilizational danger and had the courage to resist.
When Trump praised Orbán as a leader “respected by all,” he was acknowledging a deeper truth. Respect is earned by having the courage to stand for principles when they are unfashionable, not by following the crowd. Orbán has consistently affirmed that Europe has a distinctive civilization worth preserving, that nations have the right to control their borders, and that elected governments should serve their citizens rather than unelected bureaucrats.
The Patriot Alliance: Orbán, Trump, and the Battle for the West
U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the White House, 7 November 2025.
Fidesz on Facebook, 7 November 2025
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The meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on November 7 was more than a routine encounter between two right-wing leaders. It signaled the potential emergence of a wider geopolitical change and the rise of a political philosophy long dismissed by Brussels elites and Western media as ‘populism,’ but in truth is the last bulwark against Europe’s civilizational decline.
“President Trump stood up for Hungary; this hasn’t happened in a long time,” Orbán declared after securing a comprehensive exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy imports. The victory was not just monetary but also deeply symbolic. The leader of the world’s most powerful nation treated the prime minister of a small Central European country with genuine respect rather than condescension. Trump hailed Orbán as a “great leader” and extolled his response to immigration as exemplary and a model for the rest of Europe.
The meeting’s outcomes were as friendly as its words. In addition to the sanctions exemption, Hungary obtained contracts to purchase American liquefied natural gas worth approximately $600 million and nuclear fuel from Westinghouse, and Trump personally defended Hungary against its European critics.
Orbán’s triumph in Washington is yet another manifestation of a broader phenomenon: the emergence of an international coalition of patriots that is steadily reshaping European politics. The Patriots for Europe alliance, launched on June 30, 2024, in Vienna alongside Austria’s Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, rapidly became the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament. By July 2024, the Patriots group commanded 84 seats across 12 countries—a political force that Orbán correctly predicted would “very quickly become the biggest faction of the European right.”
The postmodern West and the neo-patriotic East
The significance of Orbán’s rise and the growing success of the Patriots cannot be overstated: They are the counterrevolution to a fundamental divide that has emerged within Europe. Western Europe has embraced postmodernism: the systematic dismantling of the very civilizational pillars upon which its prosperity was built and the rejection of any broader narrative that could sustain Western civilization. The consequences can be seen almost everywhere: Churches stand empty, birth rates have collapsed, and the elites celebrate the replacement of their own populations as moral progress.
As I have argued elsewhere, the West abandoned its foundational principles when the West embraced multiculturalism, the idea that every culture is fundamentally the same. The results of this choice are manifested in the streets of Stockholm, Paris, and Brussels, where no-go zones proliferate and medieval barbarism has returned in the form of gangs wielding grenades and automatic weapons. Sweden, once a model of social democracy, now requires military intervention to combat gang wars. Germany has mosques where cathedrals once stood, and British politicians kowtow to demographics, forming their political position not on principle but on the numerical weight of religious communities.
Orbán as defender of Western civilization
It is against this backdrop that Viktor Orbán has emerged as a defender of Western civilization. Orbán’s transformation from an agnostic liberal in the 1990s to a defender of Christian Europe reflects not personal opportunism but a recognition of civilizational reality. As he noted in his 2019 address to the Second International Conference on Christian Persecution, Hungary’s survival over 1,100 years stems from King Stephen’s adoption of Christianity—it was “the key to our survival.” This is not mere historical nostalgia but a profound understanding that civilizations require a unifying set of values and beliefs, and for Europe, that is Christianity.
Orbán has positioned himself not as a reactionary but as a conservator—dedicated to preserving what is valuable against forces of destruction. His government has built churches, supported Christian communities in the Middle East through the Hungary Helps program, and provided schools and hospitals for persecuted Christians. While Western European capitals see their Christian populations dwindle and churches converted to nightclubs or mosques, Budapest has become a beacon for those who believe that European civilization is worth preserving.
Critically, this includes the Jewish community. Despite absurd accusations of antisemitism from his critics, Orbán has maintained what his government calls a “zero-tolerance policy” toward antisemitism. Hungary is home to the third-largest Jewish community in Europe, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has explicitly praised Hungary, stating, “we know Hungary is on our side.” When radical Islamism surged across Western Europe after October 7, 2023, Hungary saw no mobs waving Hamas flags or attacks on synagogues. As Orbán noted, “No one waves Hamas flags here, and no one ever will.”
Fair criticism or double standards?
None of this is to claim that Viktor Orbán is a flawless leader or that Hungary is without problems. Every government makes mistakes, and reasonable people can disagree about specific policies. What is deeply troubling, however, is not criticism of Hungary, but the double standards applied by Western media and Brussels institutions when evaluating Hungary versus other EU member states.
When Orbán’s government took measures to regulate media ownership, it was condemned as an assault on press freedom. Yet when French President Emmanuel Macron’s government cracked down on Yellow Vest protesters with a level of police violence unseen in Hungary, Western media looked the other way. When Hungary built border fences to control illegal immigration in 2015, it was denounced as inhumane. Today, Germany quietly builds its own border control without facing any of the condemnation Hungary endured.
The European Parliament has passed countless resolutions condemning Hungary for alleged rule-of-law violations, freezing billions in EU funds. Yet corruption in Spain, Italy, and Belgium barely generates a murmur. Hungary is threatened with sanctions for its judicial reforms, and Poland’s previous PiS government faced similar attacks, but when the current Polish government engages in actual political persecution of opposition figures, Brussels remains conspicuously silent.
Is Hungary’s media environment perfect? Of course not. But is it worse than in Spain, or in Italy, where media concentration under Silvio Berlusconi was far more extreme? The difference is that Orbán’s government challenges Brussels’ ideological consensus, and no amount of success or democratic legitimacy will spare him from attack. He represents an unacceptable vision for Europe, not the federal superstate envisioned by Brussels, but a “Europe of nations” that respects sovereignty while facilitating cooperation.
The stakes of the struggle
The alliance between Trump and Orbán, and the broader coalition of patriots emerging across Europe, is more profound than a tactical political alignment. It is a rearguard action in the battle for Western civilization—the civilization that produced Beethoven and Bach (now dismissed by the director of the Royal Albert Hall as “white male titans”), the civilization that created parliamentary democracy, the civilization that enshrined human rights and codified the rule of law.
Viktor Orbán is by no means perfect. Hungary faces real economic and demographic challenges, and reasonable critics can identify genuine problems. But in the grand sweep of European history, Orbán may well be remembered not as an authoritarian populist, but as one of the few leaders who recognized civilizational danger and had the courage to resist.
When Trump praised Orbán as a leader “respected by all,” he was acknowledging a deeper truth. Respect is earned by having the courage to stand for principles when they are unfashionable, not by following the crowd. Orbán has consistently affirmed that Europe has a distinctive civilization worth preserving, that nations have the right to control their borders, and that elected governments should serve their citizens rather than unelected bureaucrats.
Ralph Schoellhammer is the head of the Center for Applied History and IR Theory at MCC Budapest’s School of International Relations. He is also a frequent commentator on world affairs and writes for outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, UnHerd, Spiked, the Jerusalem Post, the Washington Examiner, and the American Spectator.
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