Why the Hungary result is a 'slap in the face' for MAGA, and far-right politics everywhere
Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is out, losing his seat in a landslide election defeat. What does this mean for populism, the right-wing, and the MAGA movement to lose the poster boy for intolerance and nationalism?
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What’s the story?
The results of the Hungarian election was not just a crushing blow for former leader Viktor Orbán, but for US vice president JD Vance.
Just days before the people of Hungary went to the polls to boot Orbán out of office in huge numbers, Vance flew to the small, Eastern European country to back the far-right politician’s campaign.
Vance accused the European Union of “truly disgraceful” interference in the Hungary elections, while carrying out something very similar himself.
“Despite trying to put his thumb on the scales and intervene in another country's election, in quite an unprecedented way, it came to nothing,” says Jon Sopel.
“The two leaders who both wanted Orban to succeed most were Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, almost as if they've both got the same interests.”
The Hungary result rounds off a “week from hell” for the Vice President, who also travelled to Pakistan, where peace talks with Iran also failed.
Péter Magyar won the Hungary election for his Tisza party with a landslide 138 seats, while Orbán's Fidesz claimed just 55.
Why the Hungary election vote matters
It’s just one election in one country, right? It’s not even that big a country – right?
True, and true, but here’s the thing, when it comes to right-wing populism, Orbán has been the golden child, the poster-boy for pushing politics harder and further to the right, with his fiercely anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ stances, among others.
Emily Maitlis says the country, and this election result, has an “outsized importance” for one so tiny (it has a population of just under 10 million), and is a “fascinating” geopolitical microcosm of populism.
“For Trump he was the inspiration behind Christian-nationalism, ethno-nationalism,” says Emily.
“He allowed Trump to imagine a country of white only migration, and a place where you just said no to immigrants or Muslims – or to anything that was culturally diverse.
“The fact that that has now just exited, I think, will be a real slap in the face for the MAGA movement.”
Jon says that Vance’s failed attempt to swing public opinion has tested the limit of American power, and shown that Trump’s administration really doesn’t seem to have much.
“I wonder whether this is going to mark a fundamental shift in the way right wing parties in Europe, or Reform in the UK behave towards Donald Trump,” Jon says.
“Rather than being a trump card, is he now the millstone around your neck, the last thing you need if you're going to fight an election.”
It will now, he adds, be worth watching to see if right-wing populist parties across Europe and beyond will start distancing themselves from Trump, following this “seismic change in politics from a very small country.”
What this means for America – and Trump
The war in Iran has turned Trump allies against the president in America, and around the world, and the resounding failure of Orbán in the Hungary election could potentially see more step back from the MAGA world and the right-wing populism that has become so prevalent in recent years.
“We have European leaders turning their back on what the Americans are asking for in terms of Iran,” says Jon.
“Never has the gap been wider, between the bombastic rhetoric of Donald Trump – how America has never been so respected – and the reality.
“People are thinking, they don't need to take much notice of what America is saying.”
Far from gaining respect, Jon adds, America has gained only “fury” that countries across the world are deciding they no longer want to be associated with it.
“I think Trump is probably running a little bit scared now – with this result in Hungary, with what has happened in Iran – because things are not quite going the way that he wants them to,” he says.
“For all the bluster, the reality is that he's not influencing world events in the way that he thought he would be able to do.
“And that is a humbling moment for him.”
Emily was in Hungary for the election result, and says people there all said the same thing and gave the same reason for their vote against Orbán.
“If you are still trying to get into power on a populist card, what would you learn?” Emily asks.
“Would you learn not to be so close to Putin, would you learn not to be so close to Trump? Or, would you learn that actually the only thing that the electorate is able to listen to at the moment are policies that centre on economics, on affordability, on the price of gas at the pump?
“And again, that takes you back to Trump. Because who's the person that's pushed up the price of gas at the pump? It's Donald Trump.”
But she has a warning for those on the left who might be watching Hungary and thinking the path is clearing.
“This is not the end of populism in Europe,” she says. “There are still going to be victories.”
“Those celebrating victory today will have to be really mindful that there is a bloody long road ahead of them.”