President Donald J. Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda meet delegation members Wednesday, June 12, 2019, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
This morning, Colm Quinn reports in the Foreign Policy Morning Brief on President Trump’s impending meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Duda will visit the President in Washington D.C. Quinn reports (abridged):
The White House will welcome Polish President Andrzej Duda today for the first visit from a foreign leader since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The meeting comes as Duda faces a potentially tough election contest this Sunday—with recent polls showing him tied in a second round run-off with one of his challengers, and losing to another (if Duda wins more than 50 percent of the vote, no run-off is needed). U.S. President Donald Trump will be hoping to give his ideological ally the same edge he gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he hosted him in January before the Israeli elections.
Polish politicians have been blunt about the value of the visit. “We love Donald Trump, we think he’s a great president, and I do believe he’s going to help us win the election,” said Dominik Tarczynski, a member of parliament for the Duda-aligned Law and Justice party. “He’s going to help Andrzej Duda win.”
It’s not just one-way traffic for Duda, however. U.S. officials have a chance to present Poland as a model nation—having been outspoken in their praise for Poland’s defense spending as one of the few NATO members to reach the recommended 2 percent threshold.
Is Fort Trump back on the table? They also have a chance to discuss the allegedly stalled plan to station 1,000 U.S. troops in Poland.
Poland loves the U.S. president. Unlike their neighbors Germany, where a Pew poll showed only 13 percent of citizens have confidence in the U.S. president “to do the right thing in global affairs,” Polish citizens have faith—51 percent of Poles polled trust the president on the global stage. Poles also have a highly favorable opinion of the United States, which at 79 percent was only beaten by the Philippines (80 percent) and Israel (83 percent).
By Colm Quinn
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