One strongman pays his respects to another.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán paid his respects to the actor Chuck Norris, who died Friday at the age of 86.
A day after a bruising summit of European leaders in Brussels, Orbán posted “Farewell, my friend” on social media alongside a video of the two men together.
The video dates from November 2018 when Norris met Orbán in Budapest. In the clip, Orbán tells Norris he is “a street fighter basically, I’m not coming from the elite.” The Hungarian leader then takes the martial arts star to see Hungary’s anti-terrorism unit — “the toughest guys” — perform a series of suitably tough guy activities, prompting Norris to say: “I have seen training all over the world, and this is the best demonstration, the best I’ve seen.”
On the same trip, Orbán told the American that “90 percent of the comments on me is negative … the liberals hate me.”
“You’re like Trump,” Norris said.
“A little bit more than that!” Orbán replied.
Norris was a world karate champion who became a martial arts movie star in films such as “The Delta Force” as well as the TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger.” He was a high-profile Republican and endorsed Donald Trump during his 2016 election campaign, calling on “freedom-loving citizens” to “rally behind” Trump.
Orbán was in Brussels Thursday and refused to budge when pressured by fellow EU leaders to change his stance on a €90 billion loan to Ukraine. “It is completely unacceptable what Hungary is doing,” European Council President António Costa said of Orbán’s position.
Hungary goes to the polls for a national election on April 12.
Also paying tribute to Norris was Germany’s Free Democratic Party, which tweeted: “Chuck Norris doesn’t die. The resurrection just wants to be thorough. We know what we’re talking about” — perhaps a reference to the FDP’s ailing fortunes of late (it has no seats in the German parliament after a disastrous 2025 election).
Ferdinand Knapp contributed to this report.