But jokes aside, Duda’s meeting coincided with a shift in Trump’s and Republican policy on aiding Ukraine.
Within a day of the meeting, Trump, who previously spoke favorably of Putin and blamed Ukraine for his own political woes, took to his social media platform to declare: “As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!”
My buddy Duda
Trump loves nothing more than having his ego stroked, and PiS and Duda have a lot of practice in schmoozing the Donald.
PiS politicians are regular speakers at conservative gatherings in the U.S.; Duda was one of the lone international holdouts on congratulating Joe Biden for winning the 2020 election, and in 2018 the PiS government even mulled naming a base in Poland “Fort Trump” to entice the White House to station U.S. troops in Poland.
Along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Poland’s PiS has long been part of Trump’s universe of favored European parties. The presumptive Republican nominee flaunted his fondness for Duda when the two met in New York.
“[Duda] is my friend and we had four great years together and we may have to do it again,” Trump said. “We’re behind Poland all the way … I have great respect for this country, and I have great respect for the president.”