On Sunday, voters in Hungary’s parliamentary elections ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, as polls had consistently predicted. Orban’s quick concession signals a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in the coming days. Most strikingly, Hungarians are unaffected by foreign attempts – both real and imagined – to undermine or manipulate their judgment.
This should not come as a surprise to the Americans. We, too, are wary of the suggestion that anyone but our own lawful citizens should have a say in our democratic process. And beyond the extreme margins of our politics, there is little evidence that foreign influence campaigns are very successful in shaping the views of American voters.
America’s own political leaders have traditionally adhered to the idea that politics stopped at the water’s edge. They have tried to avoid even the appearance of telling other sovereign democracies how to manage their internal affairs and resisted the urge to treat foreign policy as an extension of our domestic politics.
I have not hesitated to point out deviations from these sensible practices, such as the increasingly egregious ways in which elected Democrats have attempted to integrate themselves into Israel’s vibrant democratic politics. Yet Hungarian politics has been an object of intense fascination among certain corners of the American right for more than a decade.
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This phenomenon is endlessly puzzling. America’s self-styled national conservatives spoke of Orbán’s Hungary as an oasis of traditionalism amid the wasteland of an ailing, liberal and decadent postmodern Europe. And some American politicians seem to have bought into this myth.
President Donald Trump greets Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban upon his arrival at the White House on November 7, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
To be clear: it’s a myth. Orbán’s champions on this side of the Atlantic may see his illiberal legal practice, crony capitalism or restrictions on freedom of expression as an acceptable price for their desired social utopia. But for all the talk about reviving faith and the family through state intervention, Hungary’s religious participation and birth rates have fallen under his rule, along with the rest of the West.
Clearly, Orban’s obsequious subservience to authoritarians is not a reflection of American values.
Of course, if any of the breathless statements about Hungary’s unique virtue had been true, they would have been a reasonable basis for personal affinity… but not for US foreign policy. Shared values can be a useful stepping stone to deeper collaboration with allies and partners. But to the extent that values have played a central role in successful American foreign policy, it has been in the service of and aligned with our strategic interests.
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Clearly, Orban’s obsequious subservience to authoritarians is not a reflection of American values. But far more importantly, his administration’s loyalty to Moscow, its willingness to be a gateway to Europe for China’s predatory machinations, and its deepening ties with Iran are at odds with American interests.
Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during their meeting in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Denes Erdos/AP Photo)
This loyalty should matter deeply to American conservatives, who rightly expect European allies to bear a greater share of the burden of deterring threats to our shared Western interests.
The Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy notes that America “will need a strong Europe to help us compete successfully” with strategic adversaries. But Europe’s tremendous progress toward greater defense burden-sharing has come despite Hungary’s defense budget shrink by 6% last year and Orbán’s active opposition to the European Union’s support for Ukraine. While other allies have reduced their dependence on Russian energy, Orbán has doubled Hungary’s dependence on Russian gas. And in 2024, he forged an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” with America’s main strategic adversary, the People’s Republic of China.
Orbán’s Hungary offered America little in the way of strategic alignment, let alone “moral cooperation.” Today, the highest shared value between Americans and the Hungarian people is the right to choose our own leaders, freely and fairly, without foreign or domestic interference.
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Of course, American conservatives, who are still primarily concerned about the social fabric and moral values of Europe’s 19th-largest economy, should take heart: it is unlikely that the next Hungarian Prime Minister will turn Budapest into a den of iniquity or impose Sharia law. And I have not yet heard him propose opening the country’s borders or sacrificing its sovereignty on the altar of the European Union.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for the EU summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 19, 2026. (Magali Cohen/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
What seems to have motivated Hungarian voters is a distaste for the crony capitalism and corruption that have weakened the Hungarian economy and the ruling party’s image. After all, their next prime minister is a product of the ruling party that campaigned on tackling Hungary’s economic problems rather than just scapegoating them. I suspect that Hungarian voters will in turn judge his government on whether he succeeds.
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Looking at this from Kentucky, it’s hard to understand how some on the American right thought that using American influence on the outcome of parliamentary elections in a small, Central European country put America’s interests first. To the extent that what happens in Hungary matters to America, the question is whether its actions on the world stage—rather than its social policies—are aligned with America’s strategic interests.
The future course of US-Hungary strategic alignment under the new administration remains to be seen. But to the extent that Hungary’s next leaders behave less obediently toward our adversaries and focus more seriously on our shared interests, Washington would be wise to welcome this change.
