Grisham reacts to Trump’s meeting with Viktor Orbán

Want to bring in our Kristen Holmes is at Mar a Lago, of course, for former President Trump hosting Viktor Orban, the authoritarian leader from Hungary. So the two met Christine for, I guess, about an hour and a half. What do we know about that conversation? What happened behind closed doors? Well, Erica, we're still trying to get a readout. We were told, though, they were going to give us some sort of briefing on what the two talked about. We were also told were going to get some sort of images

from this meeting. So far, we have absolutely nothing. I did talk to sources who said that they were still in the meeting. That's why we know the length of the meeting. But so far, that content has been kept under wraps. Still reaching out to sources as they kind of disperse after that meeting. And it was just at five. So broke up rather recently. But the interesting context around this meeting, obviously, we heard Biden talking about Orban. So it's not surprising that the White House did not i

ssue any sort of formal invitation to Orban, but also Orban did not reach out to anyone in the White House or the Biden administration to sit down for a meeting. He is still a world leader, as is the president of the United States, Joe Biden. And yet he is here meeting with the former president. And one thing to note is that Donald Trump is not just a former president. He is also the presumptive Republican nominee and he could be president again. And this really gives us some kind of insight int

o how Donald Trump might align himself in the world stage and what leaders he might stand by. As you noted in your intro, you talked about all of the things that Viktor Orban has said that he stands for. But one thing you didn't note is how much he praises former President Donald Trump. He has praised him on his immigration stance. He has said over and over again that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump was still in the White House. That goes a very long way with the former president.

That kind of loyalty and that kind of praise. So when you're talking about this meeting today, that might be something that pushed it into into existence because of the fact that Donald Trump takes those kind of compliments. So seriously. Erica. Appreciate the reporting as always. And thank you. OUTFRONT now, Astead Herndon, Basil SMIKLE and Stephanie Grisham. Good to have all of you with us. So sad said. We're looking at where we sit right now. Last night, there was a lot of counting of my pred

ecessor. Now, we were counting the times that Joe Biden said Donald Trump going after him directly. Looking at what we've seen in the last not even 24 hours, how has that changed this campaign? I think it marks a new chapter of the campaign. I think after Super Tuesday you have the majority of delegates now, you clearly have the White House say that they can now zero in on who they know their opponent is going to be. And there's a reason they're doing it at this time. Joe Biden knows that when t

his when this election is about him and the referendum on him, they're on a weaker position when this is about Donald Trump. The White House feels better about that. So I think you see both last night and today as a kind of show of the message. But I think when the president's biggest political liability is age, the performance also matters. And what you saw yesterday was a Joe Biden that have had his Wheaties. Right. Have have had was really kind of making a show to reassure Democrats that he h

as the energy to be the person leading them going forward. But I also think it's a shot across the bow to Republicans and the fake at the Joe Biden that they had last night in the summer and into the fall. That's going to be someone who gives the Democrats confidence. I don't think it's just about the momentum directly from last night. But if that is the person Democrats will see consistently through the summer in the fall. So it's about the person and about the momentum together. Right. And whe

ther or not that can be sustained for the next eight months. Is this the Joe Biden that we will see for the next eight months? The better be a better be because that's the Joe Biden that can win and will win. And as far as his point, it's amazing to me yesterday using that moment to take a shot across the bow with the justices sitting in the crowd saying, you made this decision. Now you are going to understand the political and electoral power of women. So what's what's important, I think, for J

oe Biden going forward and the Democrats is not to tiptoe around all of these issues that are mobilizing Democrats when they go to the polls, talk directly to them, talk about how Republicans are responsible for the abrogation of your rights and how Democrats are going to gain those back. So I love I love the energy. I think there's a tremendous amount of momentum coming off of last night. But we've got to continue to see it. It's got to be consistent. But I think if we see that Joe Biden in Nov

ember, it's a great opportunity for Democrats to win. Looking at the other side here, the presumptive Republican nominee, Stephanie, this meeting today with Viktor Orban and Donald Trump, I know you had been in the room right when Trump had meetings to strongmen like Orban. Do you think it's an exaggeration that he wants to use Orban's playbook in many ways? Absolutely not. You know, hearing Christine say that the meeting has lasted at least an hour and a half just tells you something right ther

e. Donald Trump has the attention span of a net. And the fact that he's sitting in there with a dictator shows you that this is what interests him. I have sat in many bilateral meetings with world leaders, and he always looked forward to speaking with President Erdogan of Turkey or President Xi of China, of course, Putin. And, you know, it's funny, you played that soundbite where Trump said that, you know, that he's such a strong man and need a strong man leading your country. They're strong men

against their own country, against the people of their own country. I think that's something that should be thought about there. And I think you're looking at a second Donald Trump term, in fact, in terms of he wants to be strong, that he can be tough with his own people, not be not be good to to our allies, not be good to our people and not to defend people like in Ukraine. He wants to be a dictator. You know, Biden was asked about today whether he was worried about Trump's meeting with Orban.

He said, if I'm not, you should be. I said, How much of the GOP do you think would feel the same way as Joe Biden? How much is perhaps totally okay with this meeting happening at Mar a Lago? I'd like to see more of it. This is a legitimate split in the GOP. You do have a kind of larger wing of the party that is kind of uncomfortable with the ways that the Trump and MAGA base have embraced. Authoritarian leaders have rallied around figures who are not American allies. And so I do think you're go

ing to see Joe Biden try to make that message, as we saw in the midterm, to appeal to people who he would say are not MAGA Republicans, but maybe more traditional Republicans and say, you know, I'm the person who kind of stands with allies. I think this also goes back to Joe Biden's point about flipping age to a positive. He's going to say that he has the experience, the know how that he did. These are the people that he knows. And there's a way that you can trust him over Donald Trump. But Dona

ld Trump is not haphazard when it comes to this issue. He is consistently like these type of leaders and he has promised in his policy planks for 2024 to model that kind of authoritarian, that kind of a authoritarian government. And so I think it is not just a personal attachment between him and these authoritarians. He wants to mimic them. He is envious of that power and he has promised in his voters and policy planks to replicate that if he was to come back in the second term. Because I want t

o be your get to something else that happened yesterday sort of carrying into today and where it will go from here. As you know, the president is really struggling with a lot of younger voters in his party or progressive voters. There's a lot of upset over how the situation in Israel is being handled. There was this moment last night that was actually caught. He was speaking with the senator. Take a listen. I told him maybe some cases in the Soviet Union are just as good. So today, Biden was ask

ed specifically about this, those comments. Here's his response. I didn't say that in the speech after. What about after the speech? You guys eavesdropping on friends? This is not the president's first rodeo. That's right. He knows there are a lot of mikes around. There are a lot of cameras. Do you think he wanted that to get picked up? Did he want that out there? Well, he should have wanted it out there if he didn't, because I think it shows to an extent that he's hearing from those young voter

s. And I actually want to center those young words because I teach a lot of them. And there are a lot of voters that say they don't want to vote in this election because of his stand with Israel. And, you know, it is concerning. It should be concerning not just to Biden, but to the Democratic Party, because as this country becomes more diverse, younger and younger voters are going to be much more attuned to what's happening in their home country. So whether they so when we don't usually vote on

foreign policy, you will start to see a lot of that, a lot more of that going forward. So I do think it's very important and I just to connect it to the to the last question, I'm it's interesting because Barack Obama in 2008 went to Berlin when he was running for office, and he had this amazing speech where he talked to young people about the ways in which they pushed for democracy, defeated communism, and were really supporting sort of this movement that was happening internationally. Very diff

erent from what Donald Trump has is doing and has been doing. I'm not saying Joe Biden needs to go to Germany, but I am saying that he needs to find a way to connect to young voters in particular and talk to them about how they are the future that that that they can take the United States in a direction that Donald Trump is sorely trying to run away from. And I don't know that he's been able to do that yet, but I still think there's time. All right. We at 8 minutes, we'll be watching that 70. I'

m curious. Donald Trump has now been pushing, didn't want anything to do with debates with his fellow Republicans, but has really been pushing for a debate with the president and how do you think that would play out if that were to happen? I think that Trump would, of course, make it about belittling Biden in any way he can, making fun of him instead of talking policy. You know, I, I would say if I were Biden's people, I would say, why? Why debate it? He just lies all the time. However, I spent

six years nonstop with Donald Trump. And I'll tell you what, if Biden does decide to debate Trump, I would sure like to prep President Biden. Well, we'll see if he's watching it, if he takes you up on that offer. Stephanie has said Good to have all of you with us tonight. Thank you.