Trump Slobbers Over Viktor Orbán - Rob Horowitz

Trump Slobbers Over Viktor Orbán - Rob Horowitz

In a nauseating display—one that should make all lovers of freedom and democracy gag-- Donald Trump feted Viktor Orbán at Mar-a-Lago last week, showering the Hungarian prime minister and strongman with a mouthful of fulsome superlatives.  Calling the Putin ally, who has virtually eliminated Hungary’s free press, “fantastic,” the former president declared, “There is nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Victor Orbán.”

 

This display served as further confirmation--as if any were needed--that Mr. Trump admires the world’s dictators and authoritarians and that he has his own authoritarian instincts on which we can count on him to act, if returned to the White House. The more immediate impact, however, of his celebration of Prime Minister Orbán and its aftermath was on the related and urgent issue of aid to Ukraine. Orbán proclaimed that President Trump told him during the celebration that he would not give Ukraine a “penny’ for its military efforts to fend off an unprovoked Russian invasion. According to the prime minister, “Therefore the war will end.” Saying that he shared Trump’s vision, he promptly endorsed the former president in his race against Joe Biden.

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Leaving no room for ambiguity, Donald Trump then promptly praised Viktor Orbán’s account of their private conversation. His campaign followed up by amplifying Mr. Trump’s criticisms of giving more military aid to Ukraine.  In this confusion of peacemaking with craven appeasement-- in which Russian imperial ambitions are rewarded by our refusal to rearm Ukraine--it is not too much of a stretch to envision Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Orbán toasting this so-called “peace’’ in Russian occupied Kyiv.  In a less dramatic scenario, it means essentially forcing the brave Ukrainians to accept the Russian occupation of a large portion of their nation.  It all calls to mind Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain declaring “peace for our time” after signing the Munich Agreement in 1938.

 

If Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán get their way, we will allow  Putin to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in Ukraine, encouraging him to pursue further encroachments into Eastern Europe.  As I wrote in a previous column, “so far, Ukraine has succeeded in defending itself against Russia’s brutal invasion, degrading most of its conventional military power, and forcing this far larger and more powerful nation to rely on arms purchased from Iran and North Korea.  Ukraine is doing so without any American or other NATO countries' troops on the ground. To continue to hold the Russians at bay, however, requires resupplying of weapons and ammunition, a chunk of which we are the only allied nation with the capacity to provide.”

 

While there are signs that momentum is mounting in the House of Representatives for ending the dangerous delay on additional military aid for Ukraine, as of now Speaker Mike Johnson, at the urging of Mr. Trump, continues to prevent the necessary legislation from receiving a vote on the floor. This is despite the fact that it would pass with a substantial majority. These delays have already meant Russian territorial gains and avoidable Ukrainian casualties.

 

In the overall battle between brave Ukraine and its democratic allies and Russia and its authoritarian sympathizers, Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear where he stands. It is with Orbán and Putin-Ukraine specifically and democracy generally be damned.