Trump says Orban doing ‘tremendous job’ in Hungary during White House visit despite concerns of illiberal democracy

President says both leaders are 'a little controversial' while commending prime minister's tough stance on immigration

Donald Trump met with Viktor Orban at the White House on Monday, despite calls from Capitol Hill not to host the Hungarian prime minister and increasing concerns that his government is operating an illiberal democracy.

The president said Mr Orban was doing a “tremendous job” as prime minister, and said that the two were similar in that they were both “a little controversial”.

“But that’s okay,” Mr Trump said. “You’ve done a good job, and you’re kept your country safe.”

The televised meeting in the Oval Office marked the first time a Hungarian prime minister had visited the White House in nearly 14 years.

Mr Orban’s nationalist attitudes, hard-line stance on immigration and his own description of his government as an illiberal democracy has spurred fierce backlash from US representatives, who said the prime minister was undermining democracy in Hungary.

“The job of the president of the United States should be to stand up for democratic values, not embrace leaders who reject them,” 2020 candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a tweet on Monday.

Democrat Adam Schiff also slammed Mr Trump for meeting with the prime minister, tweeting: “Rather than reward Orban for crushing Hungary’s democracy, we should be pressing him to reject the path to autocracy.”

While human rights groups such as Amnesty International have decried Hungary’s “systematic crackdown on the rights of refugees and migrants,” Mr Trump has heaped praise on the prime minister for his tough tone on immigration.

“[Mr Orban has] done the right thing, according to many people, on immigration,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.

Human rights violations are often found throughout an illiberal democracy, particularly when it comes to minority or other persecuted groups.

Prior to Mr Orban’s arrival in Washington, David Cornstein, the US ambassador to Hungary under Mr Trump, suggested the US president would also like to oversee a government run similar to that of the prime minister.

“It’s a question of a personal view, or what the American people, or the president of the United States, think of illiberal democracy, and what its definition is,” Mr Cornstein told The Atlantic.

“I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orbán has, but he doesn’t.”