‘Pretty Embarrassing!’ Left-Leaning Pundits Call Out Trump — And Especially Vance — Taking an ‘L’ After Orban Concedes

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and American Vice President JD Vance during the rally on the Day of American-Hungarian, ahead of the Hungarian parliamentary election, in Budapest, Hungary on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto)

Left-leaning pundits, Democratic lawmakers, and at least one Republican skewered President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance Sunday after they went all in to support Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán in the country’s elections on Sunday.

Unfortunately for MAGA, Orbán was trounced by Péter Magyar’s centre-right opposition party, putting an end to Orbán’s 16-year reign of “illiberal democracy.”

Vance even flew to Hungary last week where Trump phoned in to whip up Hungarian voters — before Vance headed to the Iran peace negotiations in Pakistan, where he also came up empty.

The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell referred to both losses when posting, “Pretty embarrassing all around for JD Vance today.”

Journalist Sam Stein wrote, “Not much he could do, I suppose, but between Orban’s rally and the Iran talks that’s a tough weekend for Vance.”

Political strategist and former Republican Rick Wilson alluded to Vance losing Trump’s support over the blunders, writing, “Man, @jdvance is having a bad weekend. His boy Orban Orbán going down and a complete flop on the Iran negotiations. VP Rubio, here we come.”

Novelist John A. Daly posted a photo of Vance looking downcast with a retweet of Nicholas Kristoff’s post saying, “Viktor Orban has conceded the Hungary election!!! A reminder that authoritarianism can be defeated, even when it tilts the playing field–because voters resent corruption and misrule. Much depends on having the right candidate to oppose the authoritarian.”

The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait made a sports reference to huge rivals Ohio State University and the University of Michigan.

“Mr Vice President, The Ohio State Buckeyes need you to deliver a pep talk before the Michigan game.”

Columnist Seth Abramson even coined a new verb, writing, “Wow, J.D. really vanced the hell out of the Hungarian presidential election.”

The Orbán loss was also a blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who relied on the Hungarian to do his bidding inside NATO and the European Union. Political commentator Charlie Sykes touched on the relationship, writing, “Huge defeat for Orbán, Putin. And Trump.”

Former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci picked up on the Putin angle, writing, “Can we send Vance to support Putn’s re-election?”

Some politicians were equally as brutal, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom writing, “JD Vance proves he’s a lightweight twice in 48 hours. Congratulations to the people of Hungary — democracy, free press and human rights win today. There is hope.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who spearheaded the fight against the Trump administration’s Department of Justice for full transparency on the Epstein files referred to MAGA’s election denialism, writing, “Your ally Orban conceded. In 2028, will you @JDVance follow suit if you lose?”

Another California Democrat, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), slammed Vance for being more interested in Hungary than in problems at home.

“Inflation is skyrocketing in America. So Vice President @JDVance bafflingly chose to spend his time going to Hungary to campaign for Orban, an authoritarian and Putin puppet,” Lieu wrote, adding, “Orban lost today and it wasn’t close.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) writing, “Far-right authoritarian Viktor Orbán has lost the election. Trump sycophants and MAGA extremists in Congress are up next in November. Winter is coming.”

And Republican Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who is notably not running for re-election, posted, “Don’t fiddle-paddle in other democracies’ elections.”

Earlier this week, Bacon went on CNN to chastise Vance for the “terrible, crazy mistake” of going to Hungary to stump for Orbán, and urged the vice president to “get out” of the country “ASAP.”

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