Poland is one of the few European countries where President Trump is still not only welcome but indeed sought after. When Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the White House on Tuesday, he repeatedly praised the president and even floated the idea of naming a possible future U.S. military base in his country Fort Trump.
The Polish government did everything it could to turn Tuesday’s visit into one of Trump’s more enjoyable moments.
Yet, somehow, Trump managed to offend the Poles so deeply that the fallout was all over Polish news sites on Wednesday morning.
What happened? At the end of their meeting, the two leaders agreed to sign a strategic partnership pact to boost defense, energy, trade and security ties. But what could have been a peaceful moment for both presidents immediately took an awkward turn.
While signing the document, Trump sat comfortably in his chair while the Polish leader was forced to stand next to him and awkwardly reach over the table to sign. Poland’s Duda still somehow managed to smile at the camera, as Trump looked on with a stern face. The scene was captured on camera by the White House and was tweeted out shortly after — much to the bewilderment of Polish journalists, politicians and researchers.
“It’s nice of President Trump that he moved a bit, because otherwise our president would have had to sign the document on his knees,” Polish radio correspondent Pawel Zuchowski sarcastically commented on Twitter.Here's the picture:
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| (Photo: The White House) |
It's hard to feel sorry for Duda, whose authoritarian, right- wing government is one of the post- Cold War disappointments. He came with a pro- Trump agenda only to discover what others have already known: it's his world and you're only a prop in it. Sad!
