President Trump’s “revolution of common sense” is resonating far beyond American shores as the political climate in Europe shifts away from left-wing policy priorities and toward the “rationality” of Mr. Trump’s movement.
That was the message from former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, one of many high-profile European political figures in Washington this week to celebrate Mr. Trump’s return to the White House. He said that the past several years have seen Mr. Trump’s conservative message accelerate. And he said that a fundamental change is taking place right now at the grass-roots level across the West in terms of average citizens’ priorities.
“The change is quite visible in Europe when you discuss different topics,” Mr. Morawiecki said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Times on Monday, just hours after Mr. Trump took the oath of office.
“Two years ago, everybody was talking about illegal immigration becoming legal migration, LGBTQ, ’Green New Deal,’ woke. … And right now, the mood is changing. All the topics are quite different from what they used to be. We talk more about security, sovereignty of nations. common sense.”
“We all need it so much — revolution of rationality, of common sense. People need this,” said Mr. Morawiecki, who was recently elected president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.
A central component of the message delivered both by Mr. Trump and his European allies such as Mr. Morawiecki is this: Despite the narratives pushed by the political left, conservative movements on both sides of the Atlantic are not driven by hatred, fear or discrimination directed toward any minority population or other group.
“We do not hate these groups,” said Mr. Morawiecki, who served as Polish prime minister from 2017 to 2023. “We want, first of all, that our citizens have the right to live in the environment and circumstances which they are entitled to. And second, we don’t want their style of life, standard of living, undermined by different ideologies. … This is quite different from hating anybody.”
Indeed, despite Mr. Trump’s hard line on American immigration policy, he won the support of more than 40% of Hispanic voters. That suggests that the messaging pushed by many on the political left — that the conservative political principles of Mr. Trump and Mr. Morawiecki are built on hate — is falling flat with voters.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, Mr. Morawiecki said he’s “optimistic” that Mr. Trump is the right leader to get Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the negotiating table in the hopes of ending a conflict nearing its third anniversary. Mr. Morawiecki said that he believes Mr. Trump’s unpredictability offers him an advantage in such delicate foreign policy arenas.
“Nobody knows what he is going to do. That is his real strength around the negotiating table,” the former Polish prime minister said. “Putin will have to know there will be no relief on sanctions and sanctions packages if he doesn’t stop his aggressive stance toward Ukraine. Without such a strong leader, it would be almost impossible to stop the war without losing the war. Now I have hope to stop the war without [Ukraine] losing this war.”
During his inaugural address Monday, Mr. Trump left no doubt that he intends to build a foreign policy legacy centered on stopping conflicts around the world and keeping the U.S. out of new wars.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be,” the president said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.