Within a few dozen hours, I learned that I was calling for an airstrike on Warsaw, the kidnapping and possibly even the killing of the prime minister, undermining the existence of democracy in Poland, insulting the Polish nation and, of course, thanks to my influence in Washington, organizing a coup. I caused all this by writing on a private profile, without any commentary, three names: Assad, Maduro and Tusk… with a question mark. The post triggered reactions from the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, half the government, a debate in pro-government media about threats to the state, and even forced a counterreaction from the opposition. The post itself says little, but the reactions to it say a great deal about those commenting on it – writes Tomasz Sakiewicz in the latest issue of the weekly Gazeta Polska.
Let us imagine a situation that might have taken place, for example, at the end of last year: the head of Poland’s largest news station writes to the U.S. president asking him to kidnap the Polish prime minister and establish rule here by the American administration. The only likely reaction would have been that he had started celebrating New Year’s Eve too early. No serious person would respond to something like that. Yet a few days later my post became the cause of the biggest media storm of the beginning of the year and reached millions. The best part, however, is that I wrote nothing of the sort and had no intention of writing anything like that, which is obvious to anyone with even a bit of common sense.
What could my post have meant? It was an obvious intellectual provocation, and everyone could see in it their own emotions and their own way of thinking.
But, as those attacking me claim, it cannot be understood any other way. Really? Is it really impossible? Could anyone in their right mind believe that I was asking the U.S. president for military intervention in Poland? Can three names placed next to each other be interpreted only in that way? What about the obvious conclusion that I am simply comparing three people with dictatorial tendencies, or the interpretation that dictators sooner or later fall? That seems far more logical. Associations are always at one’s own responsibility, and everyone thinks whatever they want. What state of nerves were the prime minister, his chief lawyer and hater, and most of the governing elites in, that they suddenly saw Tusk being dragged from his palace by Delta Force?
The dam burst
One of the stories most often cited in social psychology classes is James Thurber’s humorous piece “The Day the Dam Broke.” In a relatively calm city, someone starts running to catch a departing bus. Another person runs because he is late for a meeting, and someone else runs in the same direction because, for example, he is jogging. A man joins the runners, then a confused woman. One of the passersby asks the woman what happened, and she answers in terror, “Better not ask, man.” At some point someone shouts, “The dam has broken.” Half the city joins the panic. Everyone runs, saving themselves from the supposed flood.
Of course, there was no flood. There was no dam near the city, nor anything that could have caused such a disaster. But in the minds of these people the flood was already roaring, a rushing torrent from a burst dam flooding entire blocks.
If, afterward, the participants in that panic were asked whether they realized that nothing had happened, the vast majority would answer that this was not true and that since they were running, something must have been going on.
After my post, the dam of imagination burst for hundreds of thousands of people, and the fact that among those warning of the “flood” (associations with the situation from a year and a half ago are the responsibility of the one making them) are the prime minister and the governing elites says a lot about the state of Polish debate.
Foreign intervention comes to mind
Why did three names placed together suggest to the prime minister, his overzealous lawyer, and even the leader of Akcja Demokracja that they were a call for foreign intervention? Unfortunately, I must refer to another field of psychology – clinical psychology. Years ago, a very popular test in patient studies was the Rorschach test: a set of plates with inkblots. The blots themselves mean nothing, but the descriptions of what the subjects see in them say a great deal about the subjects themselves. Posts like mine carry no substantial content, but they carry significant reactions. The way people react reflects the fears and associative systems of those commenting. Why did supporters of the governing camp see three names placed together as the only possible solution – and so certain that they want to put me in prison for 20 years – a request for foreign intervention? The explanation may lie in the commentators’ own experience. Donald Tusk governs thanks to the elections held in 2023. He did not win them, but he managed to form a governing majority. There is nothing extraordinary about this in a democracy. What is extraordinary, however, is how that majority was cobbled together and the reasons why individual parties gained enough support to take power. According to information revealed by the administration of Donald Trump, his predecessor, Joe Biden, an exceptional misfortune for the United States and the entire world, allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent on organizations fighting the government of Mateusz Morawiecki. Our informants describe meetings at the U.S. embassy that helped form one of the coalition parties and the governing coalition itself. It hardly needs persuading anyone about the involvement of German politicians and the German-dominated European Commission in supporting Tusk. Of course, Tusk was not brought in on “German tanks.” Germany had already sent us its tanks earlier for repairs, and he did not arrive here with Delta Force either. Foreign intervention consisted of open blackmail with EU funds, the use of pro-German media and the funds of various quasi-governmental institutions, as well as agent assets. And it is precisely such intervention that Tusk and his supporters fear.
If Trump were even to clean up after his predecessors, Tusk would already be gone. Such a perspective causes panic in his окружение.
Tusk the dictator vs. “I humiliated the nation”
A few weeks ago, the Warsaw Regional Court ruled that a crypto-dictatorship prevails in Poland. Similar conclusions had earlier been reached by the Hudson Institute, one of the more influential American think tanks, and by Interpol, which pointed to problems with the justice system. The current Commissioner for Human Rights has pointed to human rights violations against people who can be considered detained in political cases. Donald Tusk’s dictatorial tendencies are not unknown. He himself defined his actions as not entirely consistent with what “legal authorities” would say.
In general, every dictatorship begins with interpreting the law as the rulers themselves understand it.
But Tusk was elected democratically, wasn’t he? That is true – although the elections, because of foreign support, were not fair, they met the minimal standard of democracy – ultimately, people chose what they chose. Lukashenko was also elected in 1994, but afterward the right to choose was limited, and anyone who spoke about it went to prison, though not for 20 years.
I also encountered criticism from the right. A certain Janusz Korwin-Mikke wrote that this was proof of our “murzyńskość.” The term was first used by Radosław Sikorski, so it cannot be racist.
There were also those who considered my post to be humiliating to the Polish nation. That is, placing three names next to each other in their minds means that those placed together are the same. And if they are the same, then the countries they ruled or are ruling must also be the same. And further – since that is so, they are so very sorry that they must tell me so. Of course, I wrote nothing of the sort and had no intention of writing anything like that, but since they must, they must.
In connection with my post, apart from threats of prison (Roman Giertych slightly softened his stance and for bombing Warsaw and attempting to kidnap the prime minister now wants only community service for me), I became the object of incredible insults, also referring to my appearance.
Quoting one of my favorite scenes from the film “Seksmisja,” the scene of being stripped in an elevator: “Why are you staring, sisters, I’ve got two kilos of excess weight, but after the New Year I intend to do something about it.” As is well known, hate does not concern me – it is simply my due. After all, I wrote what I wrote. And what did I write? Answer for yourselves. You will learn something about yourselves.
Mroczne kulisy gwałtu na policjantce. Kto chciał ukryć prawdę o zbrodni? – czytaj nowy numer tygodnika #GazetaPolska
— Gazeta Polska – w każdą środę (@GPtygodnik) January 14, 2026
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