PiS even sent Dominik Tarczyński, a member of the European Parliament for the party, to the U.S. to follow Trump on the campaign trail.
Trump’s victory is infusing PiS with hope.
“‘Let’s make Poland great again!’ The slogan, inspired by Donald Trump’s triumph overseas, could accompany our domestic election race and the campaign led by the Polish right,” Morawiecki said last week.
With the war in neighboring Ukraine in its third year, and Poland now the top defense spender in NATO by share of GDP, military and security issues are high on the agenda — something PiS hopes to use to its advantage.
In his Independence Day speech, Duda called the idea that Europe can stand on its own on defense a “pipe dream.”
“In its current state, in the face of resurgent Russian imperialism, [Europe] is unlikely to be able to ensure its own security without the United States,” he said.
That’s a message PiS is likely to continue hammering home.
The goal is to persuade Polish voters that it makes sense to choose a candidate with warm ties with Trump, rather than risk alienating the president by handing more power to Tusk and his liberals.