1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

On April 10, 2026 — two days before Hungary’s national election — President Trump posted on Truth Social promising to use “the full Economic Might of the United States” to strengthen Hungary’s economy, contingent on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s continued leadership. Vice President JD Vance had already traveled to Budapest three days earlier to campaign for Orbán in person. This is foreign election interference. By the United States government. On behalf of a leader who has blocked Ukraine aid, stalled sanctions against Russia, and whom the EU has formally investigated for democratic backsliding. And it follows a documented pattern. Trump threatened to withhold aid from Argentina if voters didn’t back his preferred candidate. He extended financial support ahead of that race. He backed the far-right candidate in Honduras with similar pressure. In both cases, his preferred candidate won. Now he is promising the economic resources of the United States — resources that belong to the American taxpayer — as an incentive for a foreign electorate to vote the way he wants. At the same time, his administration is cutting Medicaid, restricting student loans, and tightening access to the Affordable Care Act for Americans at home. This is not foreign policy. It is the use of American power to export authoritarianism abroad while dismantling democracy at home. We demand that Congress open an immediate investigation into the Trump administration’s interference in foreign elections, establish clear legislation prohibiting the use of American economic resources as electoral incentives in sovereign nations, and hold this administration accountable for a pattern of behavior that undermines democracy both here and abroad. The American people did not elect this president to purchase foreign elections. Do your jobs.