Opinion

SEN MITCH McCONNELL: Hungary’s voters offer a lesson for those on the right drawn to Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Orban's crony capitalism, ties to Russia and China made him a poor symbol for US conservatives' values agenda

By Sen. Mitch McConnell Fox News

Published April 13, 2026 6:00am EDT

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Vance dials Trump during pro-Orban event in Hungary

President Donald Trump said Hungarians are "my kind of people" when Vice President JD Vance called Trump on the phone during a stump speech for Viktor Orban in Hungary on Tuesday, April 7.

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On Sunday, voters in Hungary’s parliamentary elections ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party, as polls had consistently predicted they would. Orban’s prompt concession suggests a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in the days to come. Most notably, Hungarians appear to have been unswayed by foreign attempts — both real and imagined — to subvert or manipulate their judgment.

This should not come as a surprise to Americans. We, too, bristle at suggestions that anyone but our own lawful citizens ought to 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 abided by the idea that politics stopped at the water’s edge. They’ve sought to avoid even the appearance of telling other sovereign democracies how to run their internal affairs and resisted the urge to treat foreign policy as an extension of our domestic politics.

I haven’t hesitated to call out departures from these prudent customs, like the increasingly flagrant ways that elected Democrats have sought to........

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