Under normal circumstances, when foreign leaders visit the United States, they go to the White House for a presidential meeting. Late last week, however, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived on American soil — and went to Mar-a-Lago.
Some questions about Donald Trump hosting the autocratic leader have already been answered. We know, for example, that the former president welcomed Orbán to his glorified country club. We also know that the Republican celebrated the prime minister’s authoritarian style of governance.
What the two men talked about, however, has remained murky — at least, that is, before the Hungarian leader shed light on the private conversation. NBC News reported:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a new interview that former President Donald Trump told him he would cut off U.S. military aid to Ukraine in an effort to end its conflict with Russia. Orbán said in an interview with a state-run media organization in Hungary, M1, published overnight, that Trump’s plan is to “not give a penny” to Ukraine, stating that the country “cannot stand on its own feet.”
“He has a very clear vision that is hard to disagree with,” Orbán said, referring to Trump. “He says the following: First of all, he will not give a penny in the Ukrainian-Russian war. That is why the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. If the Americans don’t give money and weapons, along with the Europeans, then the war is over. And if the Americans don’t give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war. And then the war is over.”
In other words, according to Trump’s plan, according to his Hungarian ally, is to cut off aid to Ukraine and let Russia win.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee has had plenty of time to push back against Orbán’s on-air comments. The fact that Team Trump hasn’t done so is telling.
The prime minister’s comments were striking for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that Orbán appears to have pulled back the curtain on a well-guarded secret: Trump’s plan for the war.
Circling back to our earlier coverage, in February 2022, as Vladimir Putin faced international condemnations, the former American president offered rather enthusiastic praise for the Russian leader, touting Putin’s aggressive moves against Ukraine as “genius” and “very savvy.”
In the months that followed, Trump repeatedly claimed he had a secret plan to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours,” going so far as to boast that it’d be “easy” to end the crisis.
In September, the Republican appeared on “Meet the Press” and told NBC’s Kristen Welker there were “certain things” he would tell Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though he didn’t want to elaborate on the details of his secret plan.
Asked if he would push for a deal that allowed Putin to keep Ukrainian territory, Trump replied, “No, no, no, no.” (Trump said largely the opposite months earlier.) That was six months ago. Now, following a private chat at Mar-a-Lago, Orbán was left with the impression that Trump has adopted a let-Russia-win strategy — and Trump has made no effort to correct him. This past weekend, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a shameless Trump sycophant, also appeared on “Meet the Press” and told viewers, “[I]f you want to get the world back in order, you’d better vote for Trump.” But as a practical matter, what would “order” look like? According to the Trump-aligned prime minister of Hungary, it’s a vision that includes giving Putin the victory he craves. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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