Orbán is out in Hungary and talks have failed to end the war in Iran – ill-fated roadtrip has been setback for Maga aims
Shortly before JD Vance’s ill-fated week crisscrossing the world, Donald Trump asked him during a private Easter brunch about how the Iran negotiations were shaping up. “If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” Trump said to laughs in the room. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”
The joke at Vance’s expense contained an unfortunate nugget of truth: this is not an administration that rewards failure.
The odds were already against the US vice-president when he flew to Hungary one week ago to help rally for Viktor Orbán, the Maga movement’s closest ally in Europe, who was facing electoral defeat after 16 years in power. Then Vance traveled on to Islamabad, where he held last-ditch negotiations in order to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the country’s nuclear programme, as Trump threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages”.
Vance went 0 for 2 in one of the most bruising weeks of his term in office.
