00:00Marco Rubio visited Hungary back in February.
00:03Last month, actually, President Donald Trump, if I'm correct,
00:08appeared in a video himself ahead of Auburn's keynote speech
00:13at CPAC Hungary conference.
00:16J.D. Vance, of course, he was in Hungary just ahead of that crucial election.
00:22Why did these figures on the right feel it was so important to come out
00:27and support Viktor Orban?
00:28Well, they see this as a coalition, a big political coalition.
00:31But actually, if you believe one poll in Hungary, the visit by J.D. Vance,
00:36the endorsement by J.D. Vance, the speeches he made,
00:39the intervention he made in the democratic process in Hungary
00:42may have cost Viktor Orban three percentage points in the final vote.
00:47Now, of course, that's one poll, and we can't rely on that entirely,
00:50but this endorsement by J.D. Vance may have backfired against Viktor Orban.
00:55It's not just that.
00:56There were domestic issues.
00:57The cost of living was high.
00:59And a lot of people were frustrated with corruption.
01:01And it also had an anti-incumbent feel.
01:04Viktor Orban had been there for 16 years, as I mentioned.
01:07But there will be a bit of a readjustment now.
01:09If you are Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right party in France,
01:12if you're Georgia Maloney, the Italian prime minister,
01:14you're going to think, well, how close do we want to be with MAGA right now?
01:18Because it seems to be desperately unpopular in Europe.
01:20But as that was shown in this election, there was a desire to support Viktor Orban from Donald Trump and
01:28his allies.
01:28He was very much the European darling of MAGA, the European darling of President Trump, who calls J.D. Vance
01:35when he was on stage in Budapest.
01:36A lot of efforts were made to get that endorsement, to get that support from Donald Trump.
01:40And yet a crushing defeat for Viktor Orban.
01:44I think at this stage, we still haven't heard from Donald Trump when it comes to this defeat.
01:49So clearly, he's now trying to distance himself from Viktor Orban, or at least not really trying to offer his
01:54commiserations.
01:55If we look at European allies of Viktor Orban, Georgia Maloney, Jordan Bardella, I mentioned them.
02:00Georgia Maloney congratulated Peter Magyar for his decisive victory and thanked Viktor Orban for his cooperation.
02:07Jordan Bardella, going a little bit further, he said the fact that Viktor Orban has so graciously and respectfully conceded
02:14the election
02:15shows that there was absolutely no threat to Hungarian democracy to begin with,
02:18and that all the bureaucrats here in Brussels have been spinning fear.
02:22Of course, he would say that, but a readjustment, perhaps a recalculation on the far right of European politics.
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