Two Fridays ago, I was a guest at Mar-a-Lago, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary made headlines over a meeting with his friend, former President Donald Trump, to discuss their shared foreign policy concerns.
The Trump campaign later stated that the prime minister met with the former president “to discuss a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation.”
As we settled down for a pre-dinner Beatles and Rolling Stones tribute band concert in the Mar-a-Lago grand ballroom, former President Trump informed the crowd of the Hungarian prime minister’s arrival to enthusiastic applause.
After the music, I was joined by media personalities James O’Keefe, John Fund, and NY Post Op-Ed Editor Kelly Torrance. They were guests at media consultant and former NY Post Page Six columnist Douglas Dechert’s dinner party, where appropriately sophisticated banter was exchanged over drinks and sumptuous fare from the lavish buffet.
Although I was unable to hear the conversation between the two leaders that evening, Mr. Orban, a leading European critic of the war in Ukraine, told a Hungarian M1 broadcaster that the 45th President had a “detailed plan” to end the bloody conflict once he returned to the White House.
The prime minister suggested that if a second Trump administration severely curtailed American aid to Ukraine, “Europeans on their own will not be able to finance this war, and then the war will end.”
For years, the Hungarian prime minister was at odds with other European leaders over his tough stand on the foreign migrant crisis, his social conservatism, and his passage of constitutional amendments and laws opposed by Brussels.
Ms. Torrance, who said she greatly enjoyed the “wild scene” at Mar-a-Lago and is a vocal supporter of American aid to Ukraine, commented that “Orban declared Trump would end aid to Ukraine—but the summary from Trump’s side of the meeting did not even mention Ukraine.”
“Orban makes the same mistake many do about Ukraine. Critics think Ukrainians only fight because of Western money. That’s not true. I spent nearly a month there last year. They fight for freedom, and they will do so to the death. America used to be pro-freedom-fighter. America used to be proud of its role as an inspiration to the world,” Ms. Torrance added.
The NY Post editor, who believes Mr. Orban to be “pro-Putin,” told me that she was surprised that the Hungarian leader approved Sweden’s bid for NATO membership after he blocked it for months.
“He’s trying to play both sides, perhaps,” she hypothesized.
“The whole Ukraine aid debate is also incredibly silly because we are not giving a blank check to Ukraine. The vast majority of money in every aid package is spent here in America. We are giving Ukraine old equipment and spending those aid funds on replenishing our stocks with new stuff. Most of the money is being spent in factories right here in America,” said Ms. Torrance.
In response to his guest’s support of continued American aid to Ukraine, Mr. Dechert said: “All anybody needs to know about the U.S. taxpayer-funded national money laundering operation in Ukraine is that if the WEF/Davos globalists and their tyrannical deep state handmaidens are for it, then any rational American patriot should be against it."
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