Trump Team Wants Viktor Orbán to Run the UN, and Russia and China May Go Along

The Trump administration wants Viktor Orbán, the tough-on-borders former prime minister of Hungary, to be the next head of the United Nations. And the wildest part is that Russia and China may sign on too.

That's according to the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which broke the story Sunday. "You read that correctly," it began. Sources from three countries told the board that U.S. officials encouraged Orbán to enter the race for UN secretary-general, and even brought him the idea in the first place. The plan, it says, "awaits a final decision."

The pitch: a general, not a secretary

A Trump State Department official admitted to the Journal that the idea "sounds crazy at first." Here's the math behind it. Russia and China are believed to be on board from earlier talks with Washington, and the plan is for Orbán to run as a joint candidate of all three. The State Department official counts eight of the 15 Security Council votes as comfortable, with 10 within reach. Nine wins it, as long as nobody with a veto says no.

Why Orbán? Officials kept describing the kind of leader they wanted as "someone like Orbán," the board wrote, until somebody asked the obvious question: why not Orbán himself? It called him "the dream MAGA-conservative candidate." He fought mass migration, took on liberal activist groups and stood up to Brussels for 16 years. One foreign official put it in a line the U.S. official agreed with: most candidates for this job are secretaries, and Orbán is a general.

That's the whole case in one sentence. The UN has been run for decades by career diplomats who never met a mandate they didn't want to grow. America pays 22% of its regular budget, more than any other country. The Trump team wants someone at the top who will shake the building, not just manage it.

Orbán declined to comment to the Journal. On Sunday he was busy on X congratulating Jordan Bardella and Matteo Salvini on their re-elections as party leaders, writing about "a Europe of proud, sovereign nations" that "protects its borders." That's the same message he'd bring to New York.

How the UN actually picks its boss

This is the part most coverage skips. Under Article 97 of the UN Charter, the secretary-general "shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council." In practice the 15-member Council decides, and the Assembly signs off.

The Council narrows the field with secret straw polls. Each member marks every candidate "encourage," "discourage" or "no opinion." A candidate needs nine encourages and no discourage from any of the five permanent members: the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China. Think of it as a hiring committee where five people can each throw out any resume with one red pen.

Since Oct. 16, the permanent members have voted with colored ballots, so everyone can see whether a no came from a veto holder. The result, obtained by PassBlue, was a wipeout. Every single candidate drew at least two discourages from the big five. Front-runner Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica got nine encourages and still had two vetoes against her.

So the race is stuck, and that's the opening. U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz wouldn't say which candidates Washington opposed after that poll, but he left the door open. "We have always said we just simply need the best," he told reporters, adding that new candidates were "certainly within their sovereign rights."

The holes in the field, and in the case against him

Plenty of the UN crowd says it's time for a woman from Latin America, and the current field leans that way: Grynspan, Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Argentina's Rafael Grossi lead it. Kaufman, who posted the scoop for the Journal's editorial board, answered that critique with two points he said he'd been told. First, "The Latin Americans should settle on a candidate." Second, "The UNSC did pass over Eastern Europe last time." Eastern Europe has never produced a secretary-general, and in 2016 the Council passed over a crowded field of Eastern European candidates for Portugal's António Guterres.

There's also a new name in the mix. The United Arab Emirates nominated its former UN ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, on Oct. 21. She takes questions from member states on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The knock on Orbán is that he lost. In Hungary's April 12 election, Péter Magyar's Tisza party won 141 of 199 seats, and Orbán's Fidesz fell to 52, according to Hungary's National Election Office. Critics also point to his friendly ties with Vladimir Putin and Beijing. But the Russia and China angle is exactly what makes this plan work. Two of the five veto holders would be backing him instead of blocking him, and that leaves Britain and France. The board noted both have been careful about using their vetoes.

What happens next

Don't expect an announcement this week. Trump endorsed Orbán in April and JD Vance campaigned for him in Hungary. A source familiar with the process told the Journal that both are expected to back him again if he runs, but that any announcement is being held until after the Nov. 3 midterms. Orbán, the board says, is interested but won't jump in unless he's confident he can win.

Guterres's second term ends Dec. 31, and the new secretary-general takes over Jan. 1, 2027. That leaves about two months for the Council to break its deadlock. The UN wanted someone safe. The Trump team is offering it someone who isn't.