How Polands new President could change Europe and America

“We won!” announced Rafał Trzaskowski to an ecstatic crowd of supporters.It was just after 9 p.m.

this past Sunday, and the exit polls had declared the dashing mayor of Warsaw the winner of Poland’s hard-fought, high-stakes presidential race. Trzaskowski’s rival, Karol Nawrocki, is a conservative historian with a past that would make notorious “Red Scare”-era Washington lawyer Roy Cohn proud.Weeks before the election, President Trump had invited Nawrocki to the Oval Office and blessed him.

Then, just days before the vote, his homeland secretary, Kristi Noem, traveled to Poland to deliver a florid endorsement of his candidacy.European mandarins who had watched the Trumpian encroachment with impotent rage welcomed Trzaskowski’s triumph as a much-needed middle-finger to MAGA. Their exultation, alas, was premature.Two hours after Trzaskowski’s proclamation of victory came a more comprehensive poll that put his opponent ahead in the count.

As the hours passed, his numbers rose.And by 1 a.m.

this past Monday, it was clear that Trzaskowski had lost and Nawrocki — the Trump proxy — was on course to become the next president of what is unquestionably the most successful post-Cold War country in Europe.The Polish presidency, though largely ornamental, matters because it is endowed with the power to paralyze the government.But the outcome of Sunday’s election is more than a domestic triumph for Nawrocki and the populist-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party that backed him; it has serious implications for Europe and the transatlantic relationship.

To grasp its significance, consider Poland’s astounding transformation over the past quarter century. Just over two decades ago, when Poland joined the European Union, it was a grim place that belched out emigrants and workers.Warsaw was a drab reliquary of communist architecture whose centerpiece was a Stalinist tower.

Today, Poland’s GDP is approaching $1 trillion.The living standards of its ...