On Tuesday, Aug. 29, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sat down with Tucker Carlson in Budapest for a lengthy interview on topics including the Nord Stream bombing (and why Germany has “lost its sovereignty"), the danger of world war, the history and culture of Hungary, why Ukrainian membership in NATO is impossible, and the need to offer a new security architecture to Russia and to Ukraine. In his relaxed, engaging, and sometimes jovial manner, Orban also spoke to the American people, explaining these complex issues not as a “Putin puppet” as Western media depict him, but as a patriotic leader deeply concerned about the future of his country and the world. He would love to be friends with the U.S., he said, but Hungary will survive without it and will thrive.
“These are very dangerous times,” he warned. “A third world war could be knocking at our door. This is why we have to be very careful.” He reported this is what he told Biden at the NATO summit in Vilnius, “be careful.” If any Western nation were to send troops to Ukraine, it would immediately mean war between NATO and Russia. Ukraine can’t win against Russia, he warned. “The Russians are far stronger, far more numerous than the Ukrainians.” Any idea of a Ukrainian victory over Russia “is not just a misunderstanding, it’s a lie. It’s impossible.” Ukrainians will run out of soldiers sooner than the Russians. “What finally will count is boots on the ground and the Russians are far stronger.” What’s happening to the Ukrainian people now is “tragic,” he said. You have to understand something about Russian history. They are not going to give up. They are defending their country.
On the issue of Ukraine joining NATO, Orban recalled that there was a chance this could have occurred in 2008, but it was rejected by Western powers. The Russians became stronger and stronger and today that window of opportunity is closed. More to the point: “we can’t afford to have that long borderline between Russia and Ukraine” with Ukraine belonging to NATO. “That would mean immediate war danger to all of us, even in Washington. So, it’s dangerous, even for the United States. It’s not just dangerous for the region, but even for you, for the families.”
Since Ukraine’s membership “is not a realistic proposal now,” he said, instead “we should make a deal with the Russians on the new security architecture to provide security and sovereignty for Ukraine, but not membership in NATO.”
Asked what he would do if he were Joe Biden, Orban said, “Call back Trump! Because you know, you can criticize him for many reasons, but the best foreign policy of the recent several decades belongs to him. He did not initiate any new war, he treated nicely the North Koreans, and Russia and even the Chinese. Had Trump been President at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Orban said, the Russians wouldn’t have been able to do that. “Trump is the man who can save the Western world and all of humanity.”
Orban was insistent that Biden’s policy on Ukraine is not working. Therefore, the only solution is peace. If the U.S. stopped the money and weapons supply, peace would break out the next morning. So, the solution “is in American hands. Only the United States can do it, no one else.” Asked about Hungary’s relations with the U.S., he noted that “it is not an easy situation, because it would be much easier to cooperate with the US government. The prospects are much better if we have good relations, but we can do without them, we can survive this period and we can grow.”
He added: “Although we are NATO members and allies of the United States, we are treated worse than the Russians.” But, we’ll survive on our own. He had an interesting discussion of the meaning of the word “liberal,” which is supposed to mean “freedom” in the West, but “today in Europe, the word liberal means that you are the enemy of freedom, because you have hegemonic expectations of society, including in terms of values and concepts of man. So liberals are against freedom.”
Orbán underscored that the United States is still the world’s number-one superpower. But, he added, “it is not the voice of America, it is the voice of the US government, and not all Americans judge the situation the way the government does.” Carlson pointed out that the U.S. government poured taxpayer dollars into the coffers of Orban’s opponents during the last election to try to prevent his election, and Orban confirmed it had been “a lot” of money and that U.S. taxpayers certainly didn’t know how their tax dollars were being used.
Addressing the legal proceedings against Trump, the Prime Minister pointed out that it is unthinkable in Hungary for the judiciary to be used against political opponents. He argued that “if we go down this road, there is no chance of uniting the nation, and if the nation is not united, it is impossible to set great goals.” Political competition is fine, “but it has to be fair, it has to be legally unquestionable. Otherwise, people sacrifice their country, the future of their country, for personal success, which is not acceptable, at least not in Hungary,” he said.
The Prime Minister recalled that Hungary is an ancient nation, established 1,100 years ago. “So we are a historical nation, using the same language, no relatives, nobody speaks the same language around us. Germans and Slavic, no Hungarians. So therefore, to maintain the language, to maintain the culture for this country, it’s a big achievement by itself.”
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1696643892253466712?s=20
