Donald Trump explicitly pointed to Karol Nawrocki as a politician with whom he has a relationship, and whose election mattered in the decision to send an additional 5,000 American troops to Poland. Meanwhile, politicians from the ruling coalition are doing everything they can to avoid even mentioning the president’s name. Instead of congratulations for Nawrocki, there is silence, evasion, and a frantic attempt to claim the success for themselves – even though Trump’s statement contains no mention whatsoever of Donald Tusk or his government.
Late Thursday evening Polish time, Donald Trump announced that the United States would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. The U.S. president emphasized at the very beginning of his statement that this was the result of his relationship with President Karol Nawrocki.
By contrast – in Donald Trump’s post, there is no mention of any cooperation with the government led by Donald Tusk. Therefore – politicians of the ruling coalition either try to remain silent on the matter, as the prime minister himself does, or publish a wave of posts in which… they omit President Nawrocki, presenting themselves as the “fathers of success.”
The December 13 coalition wants to claim the credit
An example of this attitude is a post by Marcin Kierwiński, head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration.
“An additional 5,000 American soldiers will come to Poland. A huge effort and an equally huge success of all those who care about the security of the Homeland. Special thanks for titanic work to: Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Cezary Tomczyk, Bogdan Klich, the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces”, he wrote, without mentioning President Nawrocki.
Kierwiński’s post has been widely circulated online – users are asking why he did not tag the Polish president and what exactly the government did to prompt the U.S. president’s decision.
“No room for thanks to President Nawrocki? You’re pathetic.”, wrote Sebastian Kaleta (Law and Justice, PiS).
In a similar tone, Dariusz Matecki (Law and Justice, PiS) commented on the post, asking: “And what do Klich, Kosiniak, and Tomczyk have to do with this?”
Andrzej Śliwka, an MP from Law and Justice (PiS), added: “Marcin, did you celebrate again yesterday that you’re writing nonsense about some ‘titanic work’ of Kosiniak-Kamysz, Tomczyk, and Klich? For heaven’s sake, get a grip – yesterday was Thursday, and you are the head of the Ministry of the Interior.”
Jarosław Olechowski, head of editors at TV Republika, wrote:
“But President Trump clearly stated that the decision to send additional troops to Poland was due to his excellent cooperation with President Nawrocki. What exactly is your contribution here? In fact, you suffered a defeat, because as we can see, Donald Tusk’s anti-American statements did not damage the Polish-American alliance. But that is also thanks to President Nawrocki.”
Similarly, without mentioning the Polish president, Bogdan Klich commented on Donald Trump’s decision:
“U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that ‘the United States will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland.’ This is very good news for our country and for the strategic American-Polish partnership.”
“I have nothing to congratulate him for”
Moreover, Wojciech Balczun, Minister of State Assets in Donald Tusk’s government, appeared this morning on Radio Zet.
“An additional 5,000 troops. You can’t say that President Nawrocki had nothing to do with it…”, the journalist remarked.
“But I think we are talking about Poland’s security, we are talking about fundamental matters. I always repeat that in such issues there are no political divisions – we have one security, one independence, one vital national interest,” the minister replied.
When asked whether he had congratulated President Nawrocki, Balczun responded: “I have nothing to congratulate him for.”
“It is enough that President Trump congratulated him. I know what efforts were undertaken on the government’s side at all possible levels – very intensive ones, including visits to Washington, the activity of Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Prime Minister Tusk. We also had discussions within the government on this issue. Let us be glad that such a declaration has been made, because it is clearly also a signal to Russia, which we know has certain intentions, that Poland is safe and is within the zone of protection,” he continued.