Members of the conservative-populist faction in Poland’s Parliament clapped and chanted Donald Trump’s name on Wednesday in celebration of his landslide U.S. election win.
Echoes of President-elect Donald Trump’s landmark visit to Poland in 2017 where he was met with chanting in the streets of Warsaw were heard after this week’s election, when Members of the Polish Parliament (the Sjem) clapped and chanted ‘Donald Trump’ in the chamber.
The politicians, some who wore ‘Make America Great Again’ hats are members of the conservative-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which was in power when President Trump was last in the White House, but who now form the Polish opposition.
Members of the globalist-centrist ruling coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a top Eurocrat now returned to Warsaw, did not join in which prompted PIS lawmaker Adam Andruszkiewicz to quip they had “no class”.
Speaking of the “spontaneous” demonstration in the Sjem Andruszkiewicz, formerly a deputy minister in the last Polish conservative government, remarked: “You can criticize it, but remember that a politician is also a person who observes the process of systemic destruction of the right wing on a daily basis… applause of the victory of a friendly president is just a gesture – and as you know perfectly well, it is gestures in international politics that are so often used as tools for building bridges.”
While the then-Polish government was initially reserved on Donald Trump before the election in 2016 when establishment European opinion held that his tough rhetoric on the state of NATO was going to weaken the alliance, not strengthen it as later transpired, the very conservative by European standards nation soon embraced the U.S. President over his tough border control rhetoric.
This turned into a major visit to Poland by President Trump in 2017 where he gave a speech in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument in the city centre. In the speech he laid out a case for the defence of Western civilisation from threats within and without, saying: “We must work together to confront forces that threaten over time to undermine our values and erase the bonds of culture, faith, and tradition… as the Polish experience reminds us – the defence of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail. The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive?”.
President Trump said then that the West must have the courage to fight against “those who would subvert and destroy” civilisation. He was met with chants of “Donald Trump” from a crowd of thousands who had come to listen to him speak, and told them: “Let us all fight like the Poles. For family, freedom, for country, for God. God bless the Polish people, God bless our allies and God bless America”.
The speech would not go down well with the leaders of other EU nations like France or Germany, it was asserted at the time.
While the present Polish government today is a coalition led by globalist Donald Tusk, the President of Poland is conservative Andrzej Duda, who hailed Trump’s victory this week, writing: “Congratulations, Mr President! You made it happen!”.
