For a man purportedly “leading” fevered last-minute negotiations with Iran to solve the catastrophe that his boss has created in the Middle East, Vice President JD Vance picked an odd moment to make a 48-hour detour to Budapest.

The White House claims he has traveled to the Hungarian capital to “hold bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán” and “deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary”. But in reality, he is engaged in direct American interference in this weekend’s Hungarian election. It is aimed not just at salvaging Orbán’s beleaguered campaign to remain in office. But it is also reviving about Vance’s own flagging prospects of succeeding Donald Trump on the Republican Party’s presidential ticket in 2028.

Should they compare notes, Vance and Orbán might wonder which of them has endured more of a drubbing in recent weeks. The Hungarian strongman may be on the eve of a humiliating defeat that his opponents across Europe will gleefully herald as the beginning of the end of the far-right’s march across the........

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