'Betrayal': Trump shrugs off McConnell warning and invites authoritarian to Mar-a-Lago
Donald Trump will host an authoritarian leader in his home one day after Sen. Mitch McConnell warned fellow Republicans to stay away from a European prime minister "parroting Putin’s talking points," reports show.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán intends to meet with the presumptive Republican nominee and convicted felon after a NATO summit in Washington, a Trump campaign spokesperson told the New York Times.
The Guardian reports they will meet at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida social club where Trump stands accused of illegally storing classified government information.
The meeting will take place one day after McConnell publicly slammed Republicans who are "cozying up to Orbán" on the Senate floor, Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio reports.
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"Republicans in Washington who fashion themselves both ‘national conservatives’ and China hawks should pay more attention to Mr. Orban’s actions and ask themselves if they are consistent with America’s interests," McConnell reportedly said.
McConnell blasted Orbán's “self-aggrandizing” and “insidious” visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping, saying he had a “curious soft spot for authoritarians.”
Orbán — "known for embracing far-right politics and authoritarian leaders" — has been echoing Trump's rhetoric with the promise to “make Europe great again," the Times reports.
According to the repot, his hours-long meeting with Putin at the Kremlin caused alarm in capitals around the bloc.
Columnist David Rothkopf took to X Thursday to condemn Trump's scheduled meeting with Orbán.
"Trump meeting Orban opposite NATO Summit immediately following Orban mtg w Putin and Xi is the sort of betrayal of the US that would’ve led to Congressional investigations or worse in the past," he wrote.
Trump's position on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization remains unclear. When a Fox News radio host tried to question Trump about his position Wednesday, the former president railed instead about COVID, China, insane asylum residents and economic indicators.