Tucker Carlson interviewed the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest for the second time after his 2021 Fox News interview. Orbán said the Russian invasion of Ukraine “would not have been possible” under Donald Trump, who had “the best foreign policy of the recent several decades.”
Orbán called the claim that Ukraine is winning the war “a lie”:
“It’s not just a misunderstanding, it’s a lie. It’s impossible. Everybody who’s in politics and who understands the logic, the figures, the data – no way…”
“The poor Ukrainians die every day. Hundreds and thousands. My heart is with them. It’s a tragedy for Ukraine. But they will run out of soldiers before Russia. What finally will count is boots on the ground. And the Russians are far stronger,” Orbán said. “The strategy the West is supporting is bad engineering”.
Tucker Carlson noted the Biden Regime’s goal is “regime change in Russia, to kill Putin.” Orbán remarked that it’s “a difficult thing to understand the Russians, especially if you have an ocean between you and Russia.” When Westerners speak about politics, they focus on “freedom,” according to Orbán.
“The Russians will not kill their leader. They will never give up”
In Russia, the focus is on “how to keep the country together. It’s a very big country.” That emphasis “creates a military approach,” Orbán remarked, “security, buffer zones, geopolitical approaches. It’s legitimate to have that, because it’s their history. We have to understand that we cannot beat them as we do now. They will not kill their leader. They will never give up. They will keep together their country, and they will defend it.”
Ep. 20 Hungary shares a border with Ukraine. We traveled to Budapest to speak with the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán. pic.twitter.com/LOzpMrQNIz
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 29, 2023
“If we finance more, they will invest more”, Orbán said. If the West sends more technical equipment, Russia will also produce more,” he said. Orbán called the idea Russian would get sick of Putin “a joke.”
Orbán recalled the period of instability between former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Putin, when Europe was worried about “anarchy” in Russia. “Everybody was happy when after Yeltsin, Putin came in and started to control the military and Russian power as a leader… We forgot about how dangerous (it is) when there is no strong leadership in Russia. The interregnum is the worst case possible.”
“But that is our goal – at least of of the U.S. State Department,” Carlson commented.
“That’s a mistake,” Orbán observed. “If this is the goal, it’s a mistake.”
“It sounds very dangerous”, Tucker remarked.
“It’s more than dangerous,” Orbán said. “To sit in Washington, in the safe United States, is a different feeling than here in Budapest. Ukraine is next door. What’s going on there could have an immediate impact in Hungary. Washington is far away. Ukraine is close. That’s the Hungarian approach.”
At some point, “Ukraine is going to need more soldiers,” Tucker observed. “Where are they going to come form?”
“If West sends boots on the ground, that would mean war with Russsia”
“That’s the most risky question”, according to Orbán. “If any Western country would send boots on the ground, that would mean war between the West and Russsia, and we are in a Third World War.” That’s obvious “not just for me”, Orbán said, but to ”everybody on the street” in Hungary.
“All our ordinary citizens are aware we are living in a very dangerous moment. The Third World War is knocking on our door. We have to be very, very careful. That’s my message to America as well, at NATO summits: Be careful.”
Americans tend to think “they are bigger, therefore they are more clever,” Orbán joked.
We just met with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, at the Serbian Embassy in Budapest. Here’s what happened. pic.twitter.com/R4fcTMBTlV
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 20, 2023
Tucker Carslon also asked Orbán about the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: “It seems very obvious the Biden Administration blew up Nord Stream, either directly or through proxies. How is Western Europe, and Germany in particular, not saying anything? We just crushed the German economy,” Carlson said.
When the Nord Stream attack happened, Hungary wanted to call it a terrorist attack, which was refused by the Germans, Orbán said. Apparently, “it was not a terrorist attack, it was something (else),“ he said. “That’s evidence of a lack of sovereignty.”
“You can do it with the Germans, but you can’t do it with this region”
“That’s the job of the Germans. I would not like to criticize them,” Orbán said. “What we Hungarians immediately made clear is, there is another pipeline, not just Nord Stream. There is South Stream (aka TurkStream), coming from Russia through Turkey, Bulgaria. Serbia, Hungary. Together with the Serbian Prime Minister and President, we made it very clear, if somebody would like to do the same thing with the Southern Corridor, we consider it reason for war, a terrorist attack… You can do it with the Germans, but you can’t do it with this region.” This warning was “not addressed to Moscow,” Orbán said, implying the warning was meant for the Obama-Biden cabal.
“If you were Joe Biden, what would your next move in the war in Ukraine be?,” Tucker asked.
“Peace, immediately,” Orbán said. “Call back Trump. That’s the only way out.”
Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023
“You can criticize him for many reasons,” Viktor Orbán said. But Donald Trump had “the best foreign policy of the recent several decades… He did not initiate any new wars. He treated the North Koreans nicely, Russia, even the Chinese. He delivered a policy which was the best for the Middle East: The Abraham Accords. That was a very good foreign policy.”
“Trump is the man who can save the Western world”
“And if (Trump) would have been the President,” the Russian invasion of Ukraine would not have been possible, Orbán said. “Trump is the man who can save the Western world”, and probably the whole world, Viktor Orbán claimed.
Carlson noted that at the Munich Security Conference Feb. 20, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to join NATO. Orbán noted that NATO states had rejected NATO membership for Ukraine at the Bucharest Conference 2008, at a time when Russia would have been too weak to prevent it. “That window of opportunity is not open anymore. We can’t afford to have that long a border between Russia and Ukraine, which belongs to NATO. That would mean immediate danger of war for all of us. That’s dangerous even for Washington. ”
Instead of trying to bring Ukraine into NATO, “we should do the opposite”, Orbán suggested. “We should make a deal with the Russians on a new security architecture to provide security and sovereignty for Ukraine, but not NATO membership.”
“If the United States wants peace, there will be peace the next morning”
If Donald Trump were reelected, the United States “should admit, probably publicly, that the keys (to peace) are in your hand. If the United States would like peace, there will be peace the next morning. Because it’s obvious that the poor Ukrainians on their own are not competitive in this war. If there is no money and equipment from the West, and especially the United States, the war is over. The solution is in your hand. In the hand of your President – the present or the future one. The United States can do it. Nobody else. It’s not a solution for the Ukrainians. Of course it’s about Ukrainians, they must not be neglected, they must be involved, but the real factor is not Ukraine, it is the intention of the United States.”
The world is realigning at high speed, and turning against the United States. But the Biden Administration is spending its time harassing one of our last sincere allies in Europe, Hungary, for the crime of being too Christian. Watch.
(Tucker’s Speech in Budapest) pic.twitter.com/yppDft6YIi
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 26, 2023
Asked about Hungarian conservative and patriotic values, Orbán observed that Hunagry had a 1,100 year old history it was proud of, and lives its Catholic Christian values “not in an ideological way, but on the street every day.”
“I am not the favorite politician of the liberals, unfortunately”, Orbán joked. “But nobody’s perfect.” The West is currently split between people who think egoistically, and those who value “family, nation and God. And this means I have to serve.”
“’Liberal’ originally meant freedom”, Orbán said. “But now, in Europe, it means you are an enemy of freedom.”
“Hopefully Trump will come back, and the relationship US-Hungary will be good again”
Tucker noted the Biden Regime considers him Orbán “fascist” and asked Orbán if that worried him. “It’s dangerous”, Orbán said. “When the US administration does not like you, or considers you an enemy, it’s dangerous… If you (the USA) criticize somebody, you (meaning Hungary) have to be very cautious how to deal with that, And the Democrat administration does that regularly now. But we have to be clear this is not the voice of America, it is the voice of the administration. Not all Americans have the same approach as the government… The previous President is a friend of Hungary on the basis of values, whole-heartedly, a real friend. So we don’t make the mistake of considering the United States equal to the administration. Hopefully, Trump will come back, and the relationship will be very good again.”
None of our leaders are punished for lying. Instead, regular people are punished for telling the truth. That was part of our conversation with Hungarian leader Balázs Orbán. It happened immediately after our speech in Budapest. Watch. pic.twitter.com/HpWDBJFS6W
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 28, 2023
Tucker noted that the Biden administration unsuccessfully spent US tax dollars to campaign against Orbán in the previous election, as Gateway Pundit has reported. “Big money”, Orbán noted, which definitely goes against “all the principles we” subscribe to. Hungary is strong enough to resist economic pressure from the US, Orbán believes. Orbán is accused of being a “puppet of Putin”, Tucker noted, to which Orbán responded that Hungary’s “sad” historical relationship with Russia precludes any Hungarian leader being a “puppet of the Russians.”
“But of course I try to have a rational relationship with the Russians, especially on economy and energy. Without involving the Russian in a security architecture for Europe, we cannot provide a safe life to the citizens of Europe. But now everything is going against this, unfortunately. What NATO does is rather strange. If you look at the official position of NATO, it is exactly what I said: No involvement (in foreign wars), and we should do as much as we can for peace. That’s the official position of NATO… United States policy to support and finance the Ukrainians is not the policy of NATO.”
Tucker noted that NATO has expanded eastward and now shares 900 miles of border with Russia, which seems to be “provoking war” with Russia. “What is the point of NATO?” he asked.
“The point of NATO is to be stronger than Russia,” Orbán said. “The Russians are not strong enough to beat the Ukrainians right now. Russia is not able to threaten NATO.” Some leaders of NATO, Orbán said, “like your President had a strategy to crush the Russians. The strategy was that the Ukrainian soldiers will fight, and NATO member states will finance this fight by money and equipment… We Hungarians said very clearly, this strategy will never work. Now we have one and half years of war and it’s obvious this was a bad strategy. We have to stop it. We need a new strategy or we should (aim) for peace as soon as we can.“
“To use the justice system against political opponents is impossible in Hungary”
Finally, Tucker asked Orbán whether he had ever considered weaponizing the justice system against his political opponents in Hungary. “We have some bad chapters of our history, but that kind of civil war is not part of our culture,” Orbán said. “To do what’s going on… in your country, to use the justice system against political opponents, is impossible in Hungary. That’s what was done by the Communists. It’s a very Communist methodology.”
“Competition is okay,” Orbán said, “but it must be fair, and legally (unassailable), otherwise you can sacrifice the future of your country for your personal success, which is not acceptable. At least in Hungary.”
Ep. 18 Into the abyss: Colonel Douglas Macgregor tells us why the Ukraine war must end now. pic.twitter.com/a3bGLvJC4s
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 21, 2023
