There is little in common between Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s running mate Tim Walz and Republican Donald Trump’s nominee J.D. Vance, but their worldviews are clearly opposing in the way they think about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, writes Politico.
As Index also reported, Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, announced on Tuesday, at a campaign rally held in Philadelphia, that she had surprisingly chosen Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
In a recent interview with Fox News, the newly appointed politician claimed that Hungary's prime minister is not a democratic leader.
A foreign policy that respects our allies—not cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban—is the right path.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee said on July 23.
With the statement, the Minnesota governor went further than President Joe Biden, who said in March that Viktor Orbán “doesn’t believe democracy works, but rather seeks dictatorship.” The U.S. president’s comment angered the Hungarian government, which is trying to improve relations with Republicans.
Vice President Donald Trump sees it differently.
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who has only been in the legislature for a year and a half, was selected by Donald Trump as his vice presidential running mate on July 15, at the Republican convention in Milwaukee. As we wrote, the politician has previously spoken positively of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on a number of issues. He said the United States could learn from some of Orban’s decisions, including outsourcing education to universities.
It's a perfectly reasonable idea that taxpayers should have a say in how their money is spent at these universities. I think he made some smart decisions in this case that we can learn from.
– Expressing the opinion of Vance, who even defended the Hungarian Prime Minister's close relations with China, he asked the question:
Why is Viktor Orbán getting closer to China? Partly because the American leadership is not making smart decisions.
Besides Kim Jong Un, Hungary’s prime minister was the only foreign leader Trump mentioned in his Republican National Convention speech. “Hungary is a strong country. It’s run by a very strong, very strong leader. He’s a tough guy. The press doesn’t like him because he’s strong. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, is a very strong guy,” said the Republican candidate in Milwaukee.
Working class vs. rural white voters
Previously, in our portrait of J.D. Vance, we also wrote—and in connection with Walz’s announcement—why they chose him. Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee probably thought he could appeal more easily to the working class in the Midwest with Vance, since Vance is also from the Rust Belt and has also written a book about his own experiences, which means the everyday lives of the American people there.
On the other hand, Kamala Harris could have chosen Walz because she could show good results as a governor on progressive policies, and her outreach style could appeal to white rural voters. But the main reason Walz was chosen was because in the last two weeks, with his innovation, it was possible to attack the Trump-Vance duo with a new message that the entire party would then embrace.
You can read in detail about how important the vice presidential candidate is during the campaign in our article below.
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