MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the first round of Poland’s presidential election, where pro-democracy, pro-European Union centrist candidate Rafał Trzaskowski won against his far-right rival, Karol Nawrocki, who has aligned himself with Trump and MAGA. Let me know if you’d like a shorter or more social-media-ready version as well. Thanks to Graza! Go to https://Graza.co and use code: MEIDAS to get 10% off your Graza Starter Kit and get to cookin’ your next chef quality meal! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What message did Poland send in the recent election?
That was in Poland right there. Poland sending a major pro-democracy, pro-European Union message as well. Earlier yesterday, there was the Romania elections where the pro-democracy, pro-EU candidate went on to become the president. This was the first round voting in Poland. The next round scheduled for June 1. And the pro-democracy, liberal voting
Chapter 2: Who is Rafal Trzaskowski and what did he campaign on?
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzasky is going to go on to win that first round against the far right wing candidate, Nowacki, who many people expected the far right wing rival, who's a MAGA candidate, who sucks up to Donald Trump. He calls himself like the Trump of Poland. People thought Karola Nowacki was going to win that. Now we go to this second round on June 1st.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of the MAGA influence in Poland?
We're going to, of course, be paying a lot of attention to that here on the Midas Touch Network. Let me just share with you what Karol Nowrocki had campaigned on. You'll see he's just constantly talking about Trump this, Trump that. I'm the MAGA candidate. So here was a speech that he gave. Here, play this clip. And the most powerful man in the free world, Donald Trump.
is supporting Karol Navrotsky.
And the most powerful person in the world, Donald Trump, supports Karol Navrotsky. Karol!
Karol! Karol!
And again, this was an obvious repudiation of the Trump MAGA candidate. And again, we reported yesterday how in Romania, the far right wing candidate Simeon was expected to go on and win originally. The odds were that the right-wing candidate was going to win. You then had the centrist candidate, who was the mayor of Bucharest, went on to win in Romania. We did a whole video on that as well.
One of the things that I think was very important in this Polish election was Mayor Rafal Trusowski ran on a strong pro-Ukraine platform, anti-Putin platform. as well as building the military forces up in Poland, creating a first-class military to stop Vladimir Putin.
I want to share with you, I thought this was an important moment, because the views of Rafal Trusowski mirror the Prime Minister Donald Tusk. I'll explain how the Poland government works. A very confused prime minister, president. But here was Donald Tusk recently. Let's play this clip. I mean, here he is talking about, you know, standing up to Putin.
And when Putin didn't show in Istanbul, Turkey, I think it was a big sign that impacted this election as well. Remember how I reported on how Putin and Trump said they were going to go to Istanbul to negotiate with Zelensky. Zelensky showed up in Istanbul, but Putin and Trump didn't. Here, let's play this clip of Donald Tusk.
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Chapter 4: How does the Polish government structure affect elections?
We met again after a few days in the same format with President Zelensky. We spoke on the phone with President Trump to summarize the negotiation attempts that started in Istanbul. The information was clear. The Russian side did not show goodwill. The Russian side did not intend to negotiate in the presence of the American side.
The Russian side once again set conditions that were absolutely unacceptable not only to Ukraine but also to all of us. We will continue to work together. The main task is to maintain full unity both of European and American partners around the Ukrainian issue. This task remains current. We do not hide that the Russian position, it is hard to call it constructive in any way.
Chapter 5: What role does Ukraine play in the Polish election?
We are likely facing very difficult days ahead.
So in Poland's parliamentary system, they have a prime minister who's the head of government and a president who is the head of state. I would say the prime minister has more day-to-day power. The president as head of state kind of functions as a veto power over the prime minister. So currently the prime minister, Donald Tusk, very similar political background, I would say, to Rafal Truskowski.
And then when it comes to this MAGA candidate right here who did not win this round, although let's be clear, there's a second round, Carol Naraki, I think his views mostly align, I guess, more closely with Duda, who's the current president, although Naraki, the guy who's running right now, is an independent candidate.
But the party of the current president, Duda, is supporting, is aligning with this far right candidate, Narwaki, right here. I want to show you this as well, just to show you the positions of the current government in Poland that I think. especially with the threats being posed by Donald Trump. I think it's very effective. Here we have Poland's foreign minister Sikorski.
You probably have seen some other speeches I've played of foreign minister Sikorski before. But here he is about two or three weeks ago talking about how, look, If Ukraine stops fighting, there's no more Ukraine. If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. And that's what we have to remember. And he said we need to prevail on the rest of the world.
And he said Donald Trump needs to recognize what's really going on here. Play this clip.
Let us remember that this war ends if Putin stops fighting.
And about two or three weeks before that, you also had this moment for both the EU and from Poland's foreign minister. Let's play this other clip.
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Chapter 6: How does the current geopolitical situation impact Poland?
We have to put the pressure, the maximum pressure on Russia to really end this war, because it takes two to want peace. It only takes one to want war. And we see that Russia really wants war. And all those who want the killing to stop should put the maximum pressure on Russia.
I just want to say how appalled I am by the latest spate of Russian attacks on Ukraine. Ukraine unconditionally agreed to a ceasefire over a month ago. The heinous attacks on Krivyi Rih and on Sumy is Russia's mocking answer. I hope that President Trump and the U.S. administration see that the leader of Russia is mocking their goodwill. And I hope the right decisions are taken.
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So if you think about the kind of right-wing MAGA crew, right, whether it was Maple MAGA lost in Canada, you had Timu Trump lose in Australia, Peter Dutton, Pierre Poliev in Canada, Maple MAGA, he lost, he lost his seat, Dutton lost his seat. They lost in Romania, as we covered yesterday, and now they lost in Poland first round. We're going to go to the second round on June 1st.
And I think people are now seeing how dangerous this far right MAGA strain internationally is. We're seeing this across the world. I want to remind you of this incredible speech that Foreign Minister Sarkowski gave at the United Nations. Remember in February or so?
when Donald Trump had the United States side with Russia and North Korea and Iran against a resolution condemning Russia for its unlawful invasion of Ukraine, not even abstain. The United States voted with Russia. Remember that? Then you had Foreign Minister Sikorsky gave this impassioned speech in the United Nations. Let's play this clip.
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Chapter 7: What are the recent responses to Russian aggression?
What we need is a return to basics, to questions about what's right and what's wrong, what's true and what's false, what's actually happened and what's just a figment of propaganda. Almost exactly three years ago, on March 2nd, 2022, nations of the world gathered here in a special session, faced with a straight question. whether to condemn, applaud, or ignore Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Their answer was clear. The measure condemning Vladimir Putin's actions was adopted by a vote of 141 in favour, with 35 abstentions and unequivocal reaffirmation of our commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity. Only five countries voted against, among them Russia, Belarus, North Korea, and representatives of the now deposed Syrian regime.
Opinions in this body began to shift not because facts have changed. They are changing because of self-interests. Some of our member states now seem to believe that ending the war at any cost and restoring business as usual with Russia will be beneficial. As a representative of the country neighboring both Russia and Ukraine, I can tell you it will not.
By normalizing relations with Moscow, you would be entrusting your security and economic stability to an autocrat and a war criminal in an international environment much more unstable than it was a decade ago. Russian victory, may it never come, would not create a more just global order. It wouldn't benefit countries dissatisfied with where things stand now.
It wouldn't even bring about a more just and prosperous Russia. Suffice to say, there are now more political prisoners in Russia than there were in the 1980s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. There are many more casualties as well.
And here he is again. Let's play this other clip.
We've just heard another performance by the Russian ambassador consisting of lies, propaganda and hypocrisy. He referred to Ukraine as a project. Ukraine is not a project. Ukraine is a country with a longer history than Russia. Ukraine is a member of this body for far longer than the Russian Federation.
Ukraine has a history, language, and identity and aspirations all of its own, with borders confirmed several times in treaties by the Russian Federation. The mission of this body, from its foundation, has been to decolonize, not to recolonize. International community cannot appease aggression because violence reproduces by indifference.
Basic facts that prompted our strong, unified reaction three years ago have remained unchanged. And when the facts don't change, we should stick to our guns. Poland, of course, supports peace, but peace that is stable and with justice for the victim of aggression.
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