Ahead of a G-20 summit in Germany, Trump will visit Poland on Wednesday, for seemingly no other reason except that he has been promised a warm reception by the Polish government. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who heads Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, is a big fan of Trump, calling the president’s visit a “new success.” Dominik Tarczynski, another Law and Justice party member, said, “It’s going to be huge—absolutely huge.” Reportedly all members of the party have been instructed to bus in 50 constituents each to Warsaw so that Trump will be met by cheering crowds for what’s being billed as a “great patriotic picnic.” Sounds totally normal and fun.
H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, has said that Trump will deliver a speech that will “lay out a vision, not only for America’s future relationship with Europe, but the future of our transatlantic alliance.” As Remi Adekoya writes in the Guardian, “this would certainly be viewed as a diplomatic coup for Warsaw, and a snub to the likes of Berlin and London where such an important speech might have been expected to be made.” Poland’s government has also taken a hard line on refugee policies, something that Trump will likely endorse.
According to a recent Pew Research poll, less than a quarter of Poles have confidence in Trump when it comes to world affairs. But it probably won’t look that way thanks to the Polish government, which has set a new standard for remaining in good standing with the United States: holding a giant pro-Trump picnic.