Metamorphosis
Molnár, now an academic and a slam poetry champion, highlights an unremitting drive for success in his college-mate. Over lunch in an old-fashioned Hungarian bistro near the U.S. embassy in Budapest’s historic fifth district, the 62-year-old chose his words carefully, plucking out the adjective “diligent” to describe the young Orbán’s determination, capacity for hard work and attention to detail.
Not that he couldn’t be fun in his college days, Molnár added. The young Orbán went to illicit underground dances — a form of youth rebellion frequently surveilled by the state’s security police. And despite little interest in art and literature, he was keen to get involved in a performance of German-born writer Peter Weiss’ “How Mr. Mockinpott Was Cured of His Sufferings” — a satire about an ordinary man’s struggles in an oppressive society.
Like Szelényi, Molnár said there was nothing back then to give any hint of Orbán’s subsequent political journey from liberalism to MAGA’s European darling. “Except, the overwhelming ambition was there,” he observed.
“I think it’s what drives him to go in directions where he thinks he can gain power,” he explained. “If the political constellation had been such that the liberal route offered that, he probably would have remained a liberal.”
Political journalist Pál Dániel Rényi, who wrote a 2021 biography of Orbán, agreed. “I think he’s fascinated by power itself. I think that’s what drives him most. If we were living at a time when liberalism was on the rise, he’d be a liberal,” he said.
Instead, Orbán “realized in the ‘90s that being a nationalist, being a conservative would give him more freedom about how he could govern and control and build communities. It’s easier to build communities in Hungary if you’re a traditionalist. And in the 1990s, there was a huge socialist party and quite strong liberal party, while the conservative party, the MDF, was falling apart,” Rényi said.