Disrupting Trump’s Trust in Orbán: Establishment Media “Deliberately Distorts” Hungarian PM’s Comments 

Europe’s leftist mainstream cannot bear to see Viktor Orbán being trusted by those who hold real power—namely, as it stands on international affairs, Donald Trump. So it is throwing all its weight behind disrupting this relationship, with next to nothing—lying included—off the table.

Most recently, Italy’s establishment la Repubblica newspaper took what was actually a positive foreign visit by the Hungarian prime minister, during which he had a meeting with Pope Leo and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and added what have been dismissed as made-up ‘quotes’ to stir the pot.

While taking questions on Europe’s role—or lack thereof—in resolving the Ukraine war, Orbán was asked whether he believes Trump’s sanctions on Russian oil to be a “mistake.” la Repubblica later made a total hash of the conversation, suggesting that the word “mistake” came out of the PM’s mouth (it did not), even adding the statement “Trump is wrong about Putin” (which again, Orbán did not say) and that he was “going to him [Trump] to get him to lift the sanctions.”

Orbán never used the word “mistake” and actually said, far more mildly than the paper suggested, that “I [will soon be in] Washington and we will discuss it. Especially … how we could make a bearable system for the Hungarian economy because Hungary depends very much on Russian oil and gas.”

Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, proved that the conversation went down this way by posting video footage on social media.

He accused the establishment media of “even turning its own question into a fake quote,” describing this as

A textbook example of how the liberal media distorts facts to pit peace-oriented leaders against each other and attack those who stand for dialogue, sovereignty, and stability.

In fact, the PM’s words—that is, those he actually said—were in no way new and are reflective of his well-known position, first stated after Trump announced the sanctions, which are set to come into effect in November.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told Fox News on Sunday, October 26th, that the United States will continue to work with them [Hungary] and we’re going to work with their neighbors like Croatia, and other countries that can help them wean themselves off” Russian energy sources.

At a joint press conference with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday, October 27th, Hungary’s foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó sad “There will be an opportunity in Washington in the second half of next week for the [Hungarian] prime minister to discuss this issue personally with the U.S. President.”