American presidents and vice presidents have traveled far in the past when major elections or referendums were to be held in other countries – whether it was when President Obama appeared in Britain before the 2016 referendum on leaving the EU (he opposed Brexit, unsuccessfully), or when President George H.W. Bush warned Panama in 1992 not to vote in favor of reforming its constitution, threatening severe sanctions (he was successful, the referendum failed), and on many other occasions.
Vice President J.D. Vance spoke to the public in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, after meetings with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The significance of the vice president’s trip – and therefore the then-upcoming national elections on Sunday, April 12, 2026 – is underscored by the fact that the vice president made the trip at the very moment that President Trump had warned the world that he would wipe out the entire Iranian civilization, its civilians, its infrastructure, its cultural heritage, and all, if Iran did not give in to his demands. Ultimately, that Tuesday deadline passed, as President Trump, thankfully, once again cowed TACO (ed. from the acronym TACO: “Trump Always Chickens Out” – something that, unfortunately, cannot be relied upon when it comes to war) (for more analysis on this subject, please read the article entitled “Is he the Village Idiot? – “A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight”“).
In his public speeches in Budapest, J.D. Vance stressed that Hungary has long been battling an overburdened European Commission – whose meddling in Hungarian affairs he called “truly shameful” – and whose policies Viktor Orbán disagreed with, including on energy policy.
Hungary has refused to adopt the European Commission’s policy of ending its dependence on cheap and reliable energy from Russia. So Hungary continues to buy energy from Russia and, as a result, has been able to keep retail prices at gas stations unchanged this year from last year, much to the chagrin of the Commission, which is demanding that such price caps be abolished and energy prices raised.
Another area of intense disagreement with the EU has been the EU’s war policy: Hungary continues to veto further billions of euros from EU funds for Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU is increasingly resorting to direct lending of money, even though this is explicitly prohibited in a number of agreements with member states.
Hungary, during the years of Orbán’s rule, acquired a clearly stable economic policy, which, although it faced many challenges, both internal and external, remained positive and oriented towards the national needs of the state.
Now, the new prime minister has promised to redefine economic policy in a pro-Western direction and to dynamically strengthen relations with the EU and Germany, thus aiming to attract investment and boost Hungary’s exports. All this sounds good, but the economic situation of Western countries is unlikely to support such hopes.
Péter Magyar, who was sworn in on May 9, 2026, has even promised to reach an agreement with the EU to release some $20 billion in funds that had been frozen due to concerns about the rule of law. Of course, we all know that the accusations of “far-right” politics and interference in the judiciary against Orbán’s governments by the EU were nothing more than vindictive actions against Hungary, due to its strong resistance to extreme left-wing and woke policies. Orbán’s refusals to integrate such policies into Hungarian society resulted in the protection of the student youth and the stability of society. A change in such values may temporarily increase economic indicators, but social decline is certain to bring negative economic results in the medium-long term. This is something that has been observed in all member states that have submitted to the policy of the central administration of the EU.
After his election, Péter Magyar has made some relatively critical statements about the EU that leave suspicions that he may not proceed with such radical changes from the previous government. Unfortunately, however, the signs of his personality do not leave much room for hope, since he is a man of ambition, particularly selfish and with a history of domestic violence.
