Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal blasted Vice President JD Vance for “meddling” in Hungary’s upcoming elections and hurting U.S. interests at a crucial moment in global politics.
The journal’s editorial board balked at the “spectacle” of Vance traveling to Hungary on Tuesday and campaigning for far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing a tough re-election campaign this weekend, while President Donald Trump wages war on Iran.
The visit came the same day Trump threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran didn’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within the next 12 hours, before ultimately agreeing to a two-week ceasefire.
The Journal’s editors questioned why Vance considered it such a “high priority” to re-elect a struggling leader from a central European country.
The answer seemed to be that the vice president was trying to appeal to pro-Orbán MAGA podcasters and their followers in anticipation of his own presidential run in 2028, they concluded.
“Think of the Hungarian visit as part of the MAGA podcast primary,” the editors wrote, noting that Tucker Carlson in particular is a fan of Orbán.
Vance’s “Hungarian romance wouldn’t matter all that much if it weren’t damaging to U.S. interests,” the editors added.
During Tuesday’s rally, Vance praised Orbán as a “statesman” for supposedly assisting with negotiations in Ukraine and repeatedly invoked Hungarian “sovereignty” to criticize the European Union’s meddling.
Both statements were laughable, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Orbán has never proposed leaving the EU, and Hungarians like being part of the bloc because they benefit from European trade and investment.
“Mr. Orbán knows Budapest needs EU aid and money, and sovereignty for him is mostly a pose,” the Journal’s editors wrote.
As for Orbán’s supposed statesmanship, the Hungarian prime minister is Vladimir Putin’s “best European friend west of Belarus,” and has obstructed a European plan to finance Ukraine’s security against Russian aggression, the Journal noted.
Vance has repeatedly called on Europe to play a leading role in protecting Ukraine from Russia, even while propping up the very person stopping Europe from doing so.
The candidate running against Orbán in Sunday’s election, center-right parliamentarian Péter Magyar, is “far from a woke bogeyman,” and if elected would be a U.S. ally—assuming Vance doesn’t alienate him, the Journal noted.
“Mr. Vance isn’t winning many friends for America by treating Hungary’s election like it’s the Iowa caucuses,” the editors wrote.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
