Oliver Crook

So he's really been taking some of the Orban playbook, but trying to give a more optimistic sort of view of the future.

Peter Magyar is still a very nationalistic figure.

This is a person that is squarely on the right, really draped in the Hungarian flag.

Even before J.D.

Vance arrived here, he said basically, once again, something we've heard throughout the election campaign, this is an election that will not be decided in Washington, D.C., it will not be decided in Moscow, but it will also not be decided in Brussels.

So he's really been taking some of the Orban playbook, but trying to give a more optimistic sort of view of the future.

The sort of whole Orban theory of politics has been basically to create sort of external threats, either, you know, sincere or in some ways fabricated to the Hungarian population.

That being said, there is a sense that that has sort of run out of steam at this point.

And Peter Magyar

has put out a slightly more optimistic view about what the future could look like.

His slogan has been now or never, basically, which is suggesting in some people's minds this is the time to pivot back to the European Union.

Everybody here in Hungary has been tense with anticipation in terms of the outcome here.

Will it end the longest running European political dynasty within the European Union, Viktor Orban's premiership here in Hungary?

And that is the big question.

If you look at the polls leading into this, you know, there are many of them showing a double digit leave for the opposition candidate, Peter Magyar.

That being said, every single person I've spoken to, whether it's the experts, whether it's the man on the street, nobody wants to make a prediction of how this is going to go.

I think that the sort of expectations are fairly low from, you know, the sort of renewed effort with the trilateral talks that involve the United States, the Ukrainians and the Russians, where basically this is the third meeting in about three weeks.

So there certainly has been an increase of the cadence of these sort of negotiations.

That being said, again, you listen to Marco Rubio while he's been in Munich, while he's been in Budapest over the last couple of days.

He's basically saying some days I feel better about it than others.