Orban Embraces MAGA Ahead of Make-or-Break General Election
Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg
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With five days until elections in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is hoping that the visit of US Vice President JD Vance to Budapest today can turn things around. Polls suggest that the Hungarian leader faces an uphill battle to extend his 16-year stint in power, with his Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar’s Tisza party.
At a press conference this lunchtime, Vance lauded Orban as one of the only leaders prepared to defend Western civilization, arguing that his leadership should be “a model” for the rest of Europe.
The vice president hit out at the European Union, accusing the “bureaucrats of Brussels” of doing “everything they can to hold down the leader of Hungary because they don’t like the leader.” Echoing Orban’s talking points, he also accused the EU of electoral interference in Hungary’s election, taking aim at the bloc’s digital regulation.