When presidential elections results in the US were announced, somewhat surprised Witold Waszczykowski, the head of Polish diplomacy, admitted that the Polish government only now started looking for communication channels in the milieu of the President-elect. And individuals fostering Poland are not hard to find in Donald Trump’s surrounding.mOne of which is, by all means, Rita Cosby, one of the most well known journalists in the USA. A daughter of the Warsaw Uprising participant Ryszard Kossobudzki not only interviewed Donald Trump and his family (which is known to play a major role in president’s political background) but also has maintained social relations with him for many years. Mutual invitations to birthday parties might be oneof the signs of their affinity.
Trump is up to date
Trump perfectly knows Rita Cosby’s father’s history and is well informed about Polish history and its contemporary times. It was no accident that one of first foreign leaders contacted by president-elect was Andrzej Duda. It was Rita Cosby, whom the Polish President has granted his first English-spoken interview. But the often visiting Poland journalist is not the only connection between Poland and Trump. Matthew Tyrmand, tightly linked with “Wprost”, has good connections with the staff of the Republican president and is more and more frequently mentioned as apotential new American ambassador to Poland. There is nothing inapt in these speculations, as countries far more serious in the international arena than Poland have stared a race for access to the newest resident in the White House. Israel, after years of cold relations with the administration of Barack Obama, is looking more enthusiastically towards Trump, pointing out that his daughter Ivanka Trump is married to a New York Jewish orthodox Jared Kushner, for whom she even converted to Judaism. Although her conversion has not been formally acknowledged by New York rabbis, it has not stopped Israeli press from speculating about major improvements in relations with the USA. Especially since Donald Trump has given his public support to Israel even before his run the elections. He defended the Jewish community from accusations of Arab discrimination and opposed attempts to boycott products made in Israel, which could have been lethal to the economy of a nation surrounded by hostile Muslim countries. Trump was also encouraged to support Israel by Jonny Daniels, the chief of foundation “From the Depths”, who is known in Poland from his activities as an Israeli lobbyist. “Wprost” published an interview with him in March [available at Wprost.pl].
Better than Germany
It looks as if Poland has more common goals with the White House than the Russians, boasting about their connections with Trump’s staff during the campaign, would like to admit. Poland also comes out better than Germany, where the emphasis of the relations to the Republican president has been narrowed to warming over the story of a near-Rhine town Kallstadt, where Trump’s grandfather was born. However, there is more irony to it than actual means of finding common ground with Trump, who is listed as one of three main attractions of Kallstadt, along with local culinary achievements and the person of Henry Heinz, American king of ketchup, also born there. It seems that the Czech Republic is our only neighbor with better accord with Washington. All owing to the president’s first wife, Ivana Zelníčkova, who herself doesn’t eliminate the possibility of becoming the US ambassador to Prague.
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