Margaret Brennan Grills J.D. Vance For Praising Foreign Autocrat In Bed With China: ‘You Want to Mimic Him?!’

Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan pressed Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) on Sunday over his past praise for Viktor Orban – Hungary’s autocratic leader who is cracking down on freedom in his country.

“You gave an interview in February. You said the closest conservatives have ever gotten to successfully dealing with the left-wing domination of universities is Viktor Orban’s approach in Hungary,” Brennan began, adding:

I think his way has to be the model for us not to eliminate universities, but to give the choice between survival or taking a much less biased approach to teaching. He seized control of state universities and put them in foundations that were then run by his allies. Is that what you’re advocating be done in the United States?

“Well, Margaret, what you’re seeing in the United States, actually, is that universities are controlled by left-wing foundations. They’re not controlled by the American taxpayer. And yet the American taxpayer is sending hundreds of billions of dollars to these universities every single year,” Vance replied.

“I don’t want taxpayers controlling education, necessarily. Is that what you’re advocating for? Federal government control?” Brennan replied.

Vance shot back, “What I’m advocating for is for taxpayers to have a say in how their money is spent. Universities are part of a social contract in this country. They educate our children. They produce important intellectual property. They get a lot of money because of it. But if they’re not educating our children well, and they’re layering the next generation down in mountains of student debt, then they’re not meeting their end of the bargain. I think it’s totally reasonable to say there needs to be a political solution to that problem.”

“Well, America’s universities still attract talent from around the world, as you’ve went to one of America’s very top schools,” Brennan told the Yale graduate.

“Look there are still good things about American University, but it’s going in the wrong direction, Margaret,” Vance replied.

“So but Viktor Orban in particular, as you know, I mean, he rewrote the Constitution, he neutered the courts. He has tried to control the media. These are not necessarily conservative principles. So why would you want to mimic him?” Brennan hit back.

“Well, look. I’m not endorsing every single thing that Viktor Orban has ever done. I don’t know everything he’s ever done. What I do think is on the university, on the university principle, the idea that taxpayers should have some influence in how their money is spent at these universities. It’s a totally reasonable thing. And I do think that he’s made some smart decisions there that we could we could learn from the United States,” Vance replied.

“Well, he was just welcomed at Mar-A-Lago. And as you know, leader McConnell just spoke out on the floor of the Senate this past week after XI Jinping visited Hungary. He’s trying to broker trade deals. They’re brokering trade deals not just with Russia, but with Iran. Orban, because of this, McConnell said it should be red flag for anyone seriously concerned about competition with China. So why take any policy cues from a man and a country and a strategy cozying up to America’s adversaries?” Brennan pressed again.

“Well, look, Margaret, Hungary is a nation of 10 million people. America is a nation of 330 million people and the most important economy in the world. I don’t think that we should take every cue, but I actually have to reject the premise here, because why is Viktor Orban getting closer to China? In part because American leadership is not making smart decisions,” Vance replied, concluding:

We are pushing other nations into the arms of Chinese and the Chinese because we don’t make enough stuff, because we pursue a ridiculous foreign policy very often we have to be more self-reliant. I don’t like China. I don’t like that China has stolen a lot of American jobs. The reason they’ve done it is because American leadership has made bad decisions. That’s our fault. And that’s something we can fix as Americans.

Watch the clip above via CBS.