Orbán’s defeat, combined with the fallout from the war in Iran and Trump’s fight with the pope, has accelerated their retreat.
While some see advantages in keeping ties with Trump, “in the specific context of elections, that’s not a particularly promising approach,” said Torben Braga, a lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, who sits on the foreign policy committee of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament.
For Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo were a breaking point. But siding with the Holy Father was also a matter of political convenience for her given her Catholic support base and the fact Europeans from Bologna to Budapest are blaming the U.S. president for the conflict in the Middle East and the rising cost of energy.
“[Orbán’s] defeat can’t just be put down to voter fatigue,” said the senior National Rally figure who, like others cited in this article, was granted anonymity to share details of private conversations. “The proximity with the United States in the current context did not go down well with Hungarian voters.”
To put itself in the best position to win next year’s French presidential election, the National Rally will likely try to avoid being seen as close to the Trump administration.
Across the Rhine, lawmakers from the AfD are taking a similar approach with crucial regional elections looming in September.