Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s How They Host A Trump Rally In The Balkans

Håkan Dahlström/Wikimedia Commons

MRČAJEVCI, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA — Cigarette smoke hangs in the air, hard liquor flows, and various meats and cheeses are served at what one might think is a family reunion, but is actually a political campaign rally in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event in the country in southeast Europe unfolded Thursday in the hometown village of Milorad Dodik, the former president of the internal political entity Republika Srpska. Though far removed from the United States, Dodik gave a speech about the future of Republika Srpska while voicing his support for President Donald Trump and acknowledging his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The rally, attended by the Daily Caller News Foundation, was hosted in a local indoor soccer stadium and featured cigarette smoking, banquet-style dining, and Slavic delicacies including roast pork, cheese, bread, and Rakija, a locally-produced hard liquor comparable to brandy. Notably, the Rakija was actually a Dodik family product, Djedova rakija.

“America is the globally strongest power,” Dodik said during his speech, according to a translation. “That is without a doubt, and we have a year and a little bit more to finish some business with them to establish ourselves in the right way, and that’s why I need a victory.”

Dodik is not actually running for any elected position, but merely supporting his colleagues running for multiple offices representing the governing Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). While Dodik is the president of the political party, he is banned from taking any office in the country due to the actions of a former high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt.

Schmidt removed Dodik from office after he used his authority in July 2023 to unilaterally amend Bosnia and Herzegovina’s criminal code, making the failure to implement a decision of the high representative punishable by six months to five years in prison.

The outlash against Schmidt from ethnic Serbs in Bosnia notably manifested in the creation of a website, aptly named sanctionchristianschmidt.com.

The Srpskan government — and, by extension, Milorad Dodik — is notable for its simultaneous support for both the United States and the Russian Federation.

Dodik, likewise, claims to have strong relationships with both Putin and Trump, notably recently communicating with the former.

“Many say to me— they say it’s impossible,” Dodik said, according to a translated transcript. “What is ‘impossible’? Is it impossible for us to have open doors to America and keep the doors open to Russia?”

“I spoke to President Putin two days ago,” Dodik continued. “He supports and greatly values President Trump. Those who are against Trump say that this is some kind of synergy. No, these are rational and real people. We see that peace will be established soon.”

“Our policy here of a small community like Republika Srpska cannot be anti-American nor anti-Russian,” Dodik said. “But what must be, must be anti-Brussels [the center of the European Union], because all the programs from Brussels that come here favor the Muslims, and all to the detriment of Serbs and Republika Srpska.”

With one of the most pressing contemporary issues facing Europe being mass migration, Dodik called out bureaucrats in Brussels for their enabling behavior allowing migrants to flood the continent. He said both he and Željka Cvijanović, a candidate competing for the Serb seat on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three-member presidency, will stop them.

“And they, those Brussels people who have allowed 40 million Muslims to settle in the European Union, here they will return only those delinquents who commit violence and settle here; they are already trying to do that,” Dodik said during his speech. “Željka Cvijanović and I don’t allow them to do that.”

Seemingly channeling Trump’s rhetorical style, Dodik called out recent successes his small nation has accomplished in recent years.

“In the last five years, Republika Srpska has employed 15,600 new people,” Dodik boasted. “Republika Srpska has grown from the point of view of salaries and pensions … from 2006 to today, not a single pension, not a single salary has been late.”

In addition, as the Russo-Ukrainian War continues to rage in Europe, Dodik cautioned things could be far worse if not for the actions of Trump.

“A great man won the elections, and that’s Donald Trump … If that hadn’t happened, the world would look lost today,” Dodik said. “I believe that we would already be in the third phase of the Third World War.”