'Orbán was meant to be jewel of Trump's European dream - Hungary just buried it'

'Orbán was meant to be jewel of Trump's European dream - Hungary just buried it'Trump's grand vision of a nationalist Europe has been decisively rejected by Hungarian voters leaving America more isolated, more distrusted, and more alone than at any point in living memoryNewsopinionChristopher Bucktin United States Editor09:27, 13 Apr 2026View 5 ImagesOrbán was supposed to be the proof of concept for Trump's vision - but that has now come crumbling(Image: AP)There is a moment when an ally becomes a liability, when the calculations shift, the patience runs out, and nations that have stood together for generations begin, quietly but irrevocably, to walk away. Europe has reached that moment.‌And the clearest signal yet that the tide has turned came not from a NATO summit or a diplomatic cable, but from the ballot boxes of Hungary, where Donald Trump's political project just suffered one of its most humiliating defeats.‌Viktor Orbán was supposed to be the crown jewel of Trump's European vision. The proof of concept. The living demonstration that nationalist strongmen could hold power indefinitely, that Brussels could be defied, that the authoritarian playbook, authored by Trump, need never be rewritten.‌View 5 ImagesOrbán and Vance, days before the landslide(Image: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)OPINIONChristopher Bucktin'The art of the woeful deal: Trump’s two-week ceasefire as stable as a house of cards'Donald Trump