What the hell is JD Vance doing in Hungary?

Away from the chaos of the Middle East, a hugely consequential election is taking place in the seemingly inconsequential Hungary.

The populist, far-right, deeply corrupt, Putin loving Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, 16 years in power, is standing for re-election on 12th April. If he is defeated it would have huge consequences for his style of politics not only in Europe but globally.

Shouldn’t the Vice-President’s focus be on America?

Despite all the global mayhem, the US Vice-President has found the time to help him get re-elected. Why? Orban has a terrible record; embracing authoritarianism with relish, undermining institutions of state, increasing Hungary’s reliance on Russian energy and blocking EU aid to Ukraine when the US is demanding Europe steps up to the plate.

In more detail Orban has:

• Essentially placed 85% of the media under his party’s control
• Weakened judicial and institutional control by passing laws cramming them with his own people
• Overhauled the constitution to make it harder for the opposition to take control
• Shown his anti-Semitic roots with his hostile obsession with George Soros, even introducing ‘Stop Soros’ legislation in 2018
• Whipped up hostility to the LGBTQ+ community and other minorities, restricting their rights
• Rewarded supporters with slices of the State pie

In 2014, Orban prided himself in building ‘an illiberal state, a non-liberal state.’ To be fair, he has won six elections, three with a two-thirds majority but it seems his reign may finally be coming to an end.

One says ‘seems’ and ‘may’ as the ability of so called democratic regimes to challenge or gerrymander legitimate election results is becoming commonplace. Hungary, itself, in 2023 dropped from 31st to 67th in the Cato and Fraser institutes’ league of human freedom (thank you, Martin Wolf, for your excellent FT article on Hungary). All indicators of a thriving liberal democracy have headed south.

So back to JD Vance. Why is he interfering in another country’s election when he has no business to? A country which, under Orban, is a firm ally of Putin and the antithesis of US democracy.

Maybe, is it because Hungary represents a blueprint for where he and President Trump want to take America…?