BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, he was eager to pick up where he left off by strengthening ties with Europe's right wing. But now many of those same factions are expressing open revulsion at the Iran war, rupturing relationships that were supposed to usher in a new international order.
Although Vice President JD Vance campaigned for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week, such a display has become the exception rather than the rule among conservatives and far-right leaders in Europe.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni refused to let the United States use an air base in Sicily to launch attacks on Iran. France’s National Rally leader Marine Le Pen described his war goals as “erratic." And the head of Germany’s Alternative for Germany party called for American troops to leave their bases in the country.
Even with a fragile ceasefire in place with Iran, Trump's support for Orbán may not work out for the autocratic Hungarian leader, who faces a tough election this weekend. He's long been an icon for the global right and many American conservatives who have hoped the Trump administration could replicate the Hungarian leader’s effort to choke off immigration and restructure government to ensure his Fidesz party stays in power.
That longstanding connection could insulate Orbán from some of the anti-Trump blowback rattling the rest of Europe, but that's not guaranteed, said Charles Kupchan, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Getting a blessing from Donald Trump is now a mixed blessing,” he said.
The backlash over the war follows European broad revulsion at Trump's threats earlier this year against NATO ally Denmark over his demand that the country give Greenland to the United States.
Trump tied the two issues together on Wednesday, complaining that NATO didn't help more in recent weeks.
“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” he wrote on social media. "REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!"
Daniel Baer, a former ambassador and State Department official in President Barack Obama's administration, said the latest round of tension with Europe's far right shows the limits of Trump's hope of helping nationalist leaders worldwide.
“Building some sort of international coalition around national chauvinism is very difficult,” said Baer, now with the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. “It's clear the majority of people in these countries, if not anti-American, have turned anti-Trump.”
Orbán has stood out for not shifting with the anti-Trump political tide in Europe.
In an interview with conservative British broadcaster GB News last month, Orbán argued that when it came to the war with Iran, “the question is whether (Trump) has started a war or a peace.”
“It hasn’t (been) decided yet, historians will make a decision on that,” Orbán said. “I think we need some time to understand whether we are moving to the peace by these strikes, or just the opposite. It’s too early to say.”
Orbán’s caution toward raising any critical word toward Trump goes beyond shared ideology. The Hungarian leader has for years sought to convince voters that his close ties with Trump — as well as with other global figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin — make him uniquely suited to represent Hungary’s interests abroad.
Consequently, he has played up Trump’s praise of him to his base, and campaigned for reelection by assuring Hungarians that his alliance with Trump’s administration is a guarantee of security and prosperity.
Orbán reveled in the attention from Vance this week. The vice president slammed Orbán critics in the European Union for what he called “foreign interference” in the election, even as he stumped for the Hungarian leader.
On Wednesday, Vance briefly discussed what he called a “fragile truce” in the Iran war during an appearance at an elite higher education institution in Hungary, which has received generous funding from Orbán's government and is run by the prime minister's political director.
Vance praised the school for being “an institution that tries to build up the foundations of Western civilization." The Trump administration has tried to exert more influence over elite universities in the U.S., echoing Orbán's agenda in Hungary.
Some analysts are unconvinced of Orbán's strategy, noting that perceptions of the current U.S. administration have been turning more negative even in Hungary.
“Vance’s visit could have the opposite effect on Orbán's popularity than the one intended,” said Mario Bikarsku, senior Europe analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
Kupchan said most European far-right parties have established political staying power independent of any American influence, and may not have an incentive to go along with Trump's agenda.
“Trump's effort to create a transnational movement of far-right populists may affect the margins, but the main reason you're seeing Reform U.K. and AfD and National Rally and other far-right parties prosper has little to do with Trump and more to do with national factors,” he said.
Part of that is a global backlash against any party in power. In Europe, that's mainly benefited the out-of-power far-right. But in Hungary, that's put Orbán's future in jeopardy — he's been in power for 16 years.
“We're living in an age,” Kupchan said, “where being an incumbent sucks.”
Riccardi reported from Denver.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance wave to the audience at the end of a pre-election rally in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A member of the audience holds a portrait of U.S. Vice President JD Vance during a Day of Friendship event held by Vance and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in Budapest, Hungary Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, shake hands during a Day of Friendship event in Budapest, Hungary Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
Remember the iPod? It's making a quiet comeback.
Four years after Apple killed off its digital music player, secondhand sales are surging. It's fueled in part by young people interested not just in its retro looks but a desire to listen to music in a focused way and with playlists not determined by algorithms.
“There’s a growing trend, particularly amongst younger users, to mitigate the ease with which they can be distracted by smartphones, often driven by mental health and well-being concerns,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. “Having a dedicated music device, such as an iPod, is a good way to reduce your dependence on a smartphone and avoid being drawn into other activities, like doomscrolling through social media feeds, when you only really want to listen to music.”
If you're interested in joining the iPod revival, here are some pointers:
You can't buy a new iPod anymore but it's not too hard to get your hands on a used one. There are still a lot of them around because Apple sold 450 million over two decades.
There's a thriving secondhand market, as evidenced by thousands of listings for used iPods on eBay. “Based on my discussions with people in the market, there has definitely been renewed interest in refurbished iPods,” said Wood.
But watch out, because eBay, strangely, also has thousands of listings for new iPods. On closer inspection, they're from China-based sellers and some buyers have left feedback complaining they received a used or refurbished device in counterfeit packaging.
Facebook Marketplace, peer-to-peer reselling site Mercari and refurbished electronics platform Back Market also have plenty of listings. Back Market, which operates in the U.S., Japan and more than a dozen European countries, said iPod sales last year jumped 48% from 2024.
There are also businesses dedicated to selling refurbished iPods.
And there’s a chance someone you know has one gathering dust in a drawer somewhere. My 16-year-old daughter recently discovered her grandmother's silver iPod Nano, complete with original charging cable and white earphones, in a guest room nightstand during a recent visit.
For support, there’s a vibrant online community of users swapping tips and sharing pictures of their devices, many with aftermarket modifications like faceplates in non-original colors.
There's not just one single style of iPod.
The original iPod, released in 2001, came with a scroll wheel that became a design signature. When the sixth generation was released, Apple started calling it the Classic.
It was followed by the smaller Mini and Nano versions, and the Shuffle, which had no screen. Then came the Touch, which had a glass touch screen and ran on iOS to support mobile apps — basically an iPhone without the phone.
If you're not sure which model you have, check Apple's identification page.
So you've found grandma's old iPod, but does it work? The battery could be dead so you will need a charging cable.
Later generations of the iPod Touch used Apple's Lightning cable but all other models require a 30-pin charging cable, which has a distinctive wide, flat plug. Apple doesn't make these anymore but replacements are available from aftermarket manufacturers.
If charging doesn't revive it, the battery might need replacing. Or maybe there's something else wrong, like a broken earphone jack or a damaged display. Apple still repairs iPods, but only for the two final generations of the Touch.
You can send it to a repair service or fix it yourself if you're feeling handy. Repair website iFixit has detailed step-by-step repair guides for replacing various components. You'll need to source spare parts yourself.
IPod Touch owners should beware of software limitations. The most recent version of Apple's operating system that will work on the seventh generation iPod Touch — the last version ever sold — is iOS 15, and previous models are limited to even older versions.
This is not an issue with other iPod variants because they don't run iOS.
Grandma's silver iPod Nano appeared to be working fine, but I decided to start fresh by doing a factory reset to wipe the audio files left on it and restore the original settings. You'll need a computer, either a Mac or Windows, to do this. Apple has a page that outlines the steps.
Those of you with Windows computers can use Apple's iTunes program to manage your iPod and sync up your song library. To add digital music files from your computer, drag the files into iTunes and drop them in the iPod's music library. To add a song that you've bought previously in iTunes, download it first to your computer, right click on it and select “Add to Device."
Apple discontinued iTunes for MacOS in 2019 so Mac computer users will have to use Apple Music, but it's an equally easy process of dragging and dropping files.
Take note, Apple Music subscribers: you should be able to stream music on later generations of the iPod Touch. But for every other type of iPod, you'll only be able to add and listen to music files ripped from a CD or purchased from a digital music platform.
Most iPods are pretty basic, in part because they're limited by the device's onboard firmware.
But part of the iPod’s appeal is that it’s easy for hobbyists to tinker with them, said Wood.
“There is definitely a movement of people looking to take iPods and modify them for modern use,” he said.
One popular hack is replacing the iPod's firmware with open-source software such as RockBox, which can be used “to upgrade an iPod to offer greater control and add features that Apple had not included or did not exist at the time,” Wood said.
This includes support for high-resolution lossless music files, the ability to manage music without iTunes, and tracking what you've been listening to so you can upload your playlist to a platform such as Last.fm, Wood said.
Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.
An iPod is displayed at the new Apple Museum which traces 50 years of the iconic brand's innovations, in Utrecht, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
FILE - An iPod is displayed after its introduction by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during a news conference, Oct. 23, 2001, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
