Vice President JD Vance is being roundly mocked after a disastrous weekend in which he presided over unsuccessful peace talks with Iran and saw his candidate in Hungary’s election, Viktor Orban, driven from office after 16 years in power.
Vance was in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday for 21 hours of talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators on ending the devastating conflict in the Middle East, which finally concluded without agreement.
In a press conference afterwards, the VP said the U.S. was not satisfied that Iran would abandon its long-held ambition to develop a nuclear weapon.
“The simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon, not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term,” Vance said. “We haven’t seen that yet.”
He insisted the stalemate was “bad news for Iran, much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”
Tehran said “two important issues” went unresolved: its nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.
President Donald Trump reacted with frustration to the failure of the talks and has since announced the U.S. Navy will “blockade” the strait.
Then, on Sunday, Hungary’s authoritarian president lost his re-election bid to challenger Peter Magyar, just days after Vance had flown into Budapest to personally endorse the former.
“JD Vance is on a historic roll,” sneered anti-MAGA pundit Ron Filipkowski, running through some of the VP’s recent foreign policy misadventures.
“He campaigns for AfD in Germany – they lose. Invited the Pope to come to U.S. for Trump’s big event – Pope refuses. Leads peace negotiations with Iran – fails miserably. Campaigns in Hungary for Orban – who gets smoked.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom joined in the gloating by saying: “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.”
Sarah Longwell, The Bulwark’s founder, said the weekend had been “pretty embarrassing all around for JD Vance.”
The Republicans Against Trump account on X (Twitter) pointed out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent his Saturday night watching a UFC bout in Miami with Trump, leaving it to Vance to take the fall for the outcome in Islamabad, commenting: “An absolute clown show running the country.”
The New York Times reported last week that Vance was one of the cabinet members who had spoken out against Operation Epic Fury before its commencement on February 28 but had pledged his support to Trump, even as he reiterated his opinion that the war was a bad idea that would lead to mass casualties and regional chaos.
Despite not believing in the conflict, Vance was sent out by Trump to speak for him, with the president joking at the White House last week: “If [a deal] doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance. And if it does happen. I’m taking full credit.”
Before arriving in Pakistan, Vance had been in Hungary attempting to bolster Orban’s flagging campaign, championing the strongman leader – who is also backed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia – and attacking “bureaucrats in Brussels” for opposing his rule.
But Hungarians have evidently grown tired of Orban’s experiment in “illiberal democracy,” which has seen him hailed as a hero of Christian nationalism in the U.S. while restricting the judiciary, muzzling the free press, and curtailing LGBTQ+ rights at home.
Vance’s intervention clearly did not help Orban’s cause – and may even have helped to seal his fate.
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