Trump welcomes eager nationalist, populist Polish president
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Looking forward to a photo op, which is expected to be broadcast ad nauseam like a glorified infomercial on state-owned Polish TV, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, became the first foreign leader to visit US President Donald Trump since the coronavirus pandemic led to global lockdowns. Duda’s visit on June 24 appeared aimed at boosting his re-election campaign – Poland’s nationwide presidential vote is on June 28.
Critics have accused Duda and Trump of calling the visit four days before the Polish election in order to improve Duda’s chances of winning, as his lead in opinion polls has dropped in recent weeks. Critics have also accused Duda of being a Trump “lapdog” and that the former sought to curry favor with the American president by seeking to name a military base in Poland Fort Trump, essentially turning Poland into a “vassal state.”
American think tank Brookings states that “Trump shouldn’t be hosting Polish President Duda,” adding that “Under normal practice, US officials observe a pre-election blackout period for high-level meetings of a month or more, fearful of being accused of electoral interference or used as a prop for electioneering.”
On the campaign trail in the staunchly Catholic Poland, Duda has recently lashed out at “LGBT ideology,” which he has compared to “neo-bolshevism,” in a bid to attract conservative Catholic voters and members of the far-right. Meanwhile, PiS has been accused of democratic backsliding and erosion of the rule of law since winning a parliamentary majority in 2015.
