BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: You also campaigned for Viktor Orban in Hungary and he lost that race, defeated after 16 years in power. Your thoughts about whether it was worth it to go support Viktor Orban in that race considering he lost significantly and he’s one of the only European leaders who supports Vladimir Putin.
VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE: Well first of all, Bret, I think that Viktor Orban is a great guy who’s done a very good job. I think that his his legacy in Hungary is transformational. 16 years fundamentally changing that country, but one of the reasons why we decided to do that, Brett, is not because, you know, we can’t read polls.
We certainly knew there was a very good chance that Viktor would lose that election. We did it because he’s one of the few European leaders we’ve seen who’s been willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels that has been very, very bad for the United States. So for example, when you see a European bureaucrat go after an American company, sometimes the only vote no, the only vote to protect that American interest has been Viktor Orban.
We didn’t go because we expected Viktor to cruise to an election victory. We went because it was the right thing to do to stand behind a person who had stood by us for a very long time. So this wasn’t about Russia and fundamentally it wasn’t about Europe.
It was about the United States and the fact that he’s been a good partner to both me and the personally, but also to the United States. I’m sad that he lost. We’ll work very well, I’m sure, with the next prime minister of Hungary, but it wasn’t a bad trip at all because it’s worth standing by people even if you don’t win every race.
