U.S. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) is criticizing Vice President JD Vance for traveling to Budapest to support the re-election campaign of controversial Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán, who reportedly told Russian leader Vladimir Putin recently, “I am at your service.”
The pro-Ukrainian, pro-NATO Congressman told CNN that Prime Minister Orbán has made Hungary “the most friendly country in Europe to Russia. They’ve done more to undermine Ukraine and NATO than any other country right now other than maybe Russia itself.”
[NOTE: The New York Times reported this week that “both the Trump administration and Moscow see Mr. Orban as a linchpin of their common antagonism toward Europe.” Vance, during his Budapest visit, accused Ukraine of interfering in Hungarian elections.]
.@VP should get the heck out of Hungary & focus on Iran. My family is from Hungary—a freedom-loving country that rose up against the Soviets in 1956. Today Orban has aligned Hungary closer to Russia & undermined NATO. Regardless we shouldn’t interfere in other countries’… pic.twitter.com/9aZG0FSTgF
— Rep. Don Bacon
(@RepDonBacon) April 8, 2026
Bacon added: “I think it’s a crazy terrible mistake to go into someone else’s country and campaign for one of the candidates over the other. We don’t want people interfering in our elections…I guarantee you, the Hungarians don’t like the United States going in there and messing with their elections. That’s what Russia does. That’s what China does. So I would encourage the administration to get the heck out of Hungary…And what happens if the other side wins? They’re going to say, ‘oh, the president, the administration of America supported my opponent.’ How’s that going to play out for years to come? I think it’s a dumb mistake.”
A truly statesmanlike response to Vance from Hungary’s probable next PM @magyarpeterMP
“Hungarian history isn’t written in Washington or Moscow but by Hungarians, in our villages & towns. We decide our own fate. We want a humane Hungary in the heart of Europe”
My Eng s/tpic.twitter.com/Li6NkyR5Ch
— Alex Taylor (@AlexTaylorNews) April 8, 2026
Orbán’s challenger, Magyar Péter, would agree with Bacon. As seen above in the post-Vance visit video, Péter said, “I must insist that all international politicians from Ukraine to Serbia, from Russia to America, refrain from intervening in the Hungarian elections. We are not an experimental zone. We are not a geopolitical playground. This is our country here, the fate of which will be decided by Hungarian citizens.”
