The MAGA movement and the Kremlin both have a lot riding on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán remaining in power. And that’s why an air of desperation is permeating Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Hungary this week in an effort to bolster Orbán’s electoral chances.

A far-right Russophile who has denounced “mixed race” nations and touted what he calls “illiberal democracy” (aka authoritarianism), Orbán is facing arguably his dimmest prospects for re-election in his 16-year reign. Authoritarian expert Anne Applebaum explained during a recent appearance on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” that the corruption and poverty Orbán has overseen in one of Europe’s poorest countries has led to rising discontent, putting his re-election in doubt.

Applebaum also noted Orbán, who’s worked to rig the political system in his favor, has centered his campaign on rhetorical attacks on Ukraine, including his recent insinuation that Ukraine was involved in a plot to blow up a pipeline sending Russian gas to Hungary. Such attacks on Ukraine comport with a man who recently said he was “at your service” in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Hungarian transcript of a call reviewed by Bloomberg News. 

That’s why, as Applebaum noted, NATO countries view Vance’s visit as, functionally, support for “Russia’s war against Ukraine and Russia’s campaign against Europe.” 

During a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday, Vance validated those concerns by peddling Kremlin-esque propaganda, accusing Ukrainian intelligence officials of trying to “put their thumb on the scale” of elections in the United Sates and Hungary. 

Vance lobbed similar allegations at the European Union, suggesting it is engaged in “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference” he’s ever seen — an ironic claim from someone who’s vice president now because insurrectionists threatened to hang Trump’s last vice president while interfering with the peaceful transition of power. 

The Washington Post’s Catherine Belton explained the stakes of an Orbán victory for both Russia and the MAGA movement:

As Orban over the past decade took a forceful stance against migrants and refugees and proclaimed himself Europe’s champion of illiberal Christian democracy, Budapest became a magnet for American conservatives. Orban’s government — bankrolled in part by cheap Russian energy supplies — poured money into a network of think tanks that became hubs for MAGA and nationalist ideology, and that in turn provided channels for the Kremlin to filter its talking points to American right-wing groups.

CPAC Hungary is a prime example of the ties Belton discussed: a space where pro-Kremlin conservatives in the U.S. have been able to plot and confab together with members of the pro-Kremlin Hungarian regime. That certainly seems like relevant context when Vance says he wants to help Orbán win “as much as I possibly can.”

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