Europe

Trump Meeting Exposes the Political Rift Damaging Poland

The threat of increasing political paralysis in Warsaw comes at a bad time for Europe.

Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, is set to meet the US president on Sept. 3

Photographer: Damian Lemanski/Bloomberg

When Karol Nawrocki arrives at the White House on Wednesday, the Polish president’s meeting with Donald Trump might ordinarily showcase his country’s importance as a key European power.

The runup to the head of state’s first foreign trip, though, has exposed something else: How Poland’s latest political troubles risk undermining the country at home and abroad just when its star was in the ascendency.