America's vice president is scheduled to arrive in Hungary on Tuesday to stump for Viktor Orban, the authoritarian leader whose party faces an uphill battle in Sunday's election. Orban's Fidesz trails in polls despite a "complete and total endorsement" from President Trump, a February visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and 16 years of incumbency that have reshaped Hungary's political landscape.
"Hvylya" reports, citing a New York Times opinion column. Trump supporters lionize Orban, whose party rewrote Hungary's Constitution to create what he calls an "illiberal democracy" and who constantly feuds with the European Union over anti-immigrant policies.
Orban's situation has grown more desperate than his allies may want to admit. Russia reportedly proposed bolstering Orban by staging a fake assassination attempt, underscoring how precarious his grip on power has become. The Hungarian economy has stagnated while Orban's family and friends have grown rich, a pattern that voters appear ready to punish at the ballot box.
The visit fits a broader pattern of right-wing nationalist setbacks across Europe. Far-right parties have suffered recent defeats in France and the Netherlands. In Germany and elsewhere, nationalist movements have begun distancing themselves from Trump over a war that has made the American president deeply unpopular even among his own base. Orban, a Kremlin-allied leader who has proclaimed that Europeans "do not want to become peoples of mixed race," now finds himself swimming against the current.
For Vance, the Hungary trip may serve a dual purpose: a distraction from his Iran problem and an attempt to shore up his credentials within the MAGA movement. Whether Orban wins or loses on Sunday, his brand of authoritarianism is faltering and has led Hungary to a difficult place. The real question: what does Vance gain by attaching himself to a failing endeavor?
Also read: how Rubio denied that Washington was pressuring Ukraine to trade territory for protection.