WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda are scheduled to attend the same event this Sunday in Pennsylvania, a battleground state in this year’s presidential election, as Trump seeks to tap into the Polish-American vote.
A meeting between the two at a Polish-American shrine has not yet been confirmed, but seemed possible given their friendly ties in the past — and the fact that Duda’s office said it expected a meeting if Trump were to attend.
Pennsylvania has one of the largest Polish-American populations in the county, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris want their support. During the recent presidential debate in Philadelphia, Harris appealed to Polish Americans by casting Trump as a threat to the security of Poland and Europe more widely because of his opposition to U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Trump won the state in 2016 but Democratic President Joe Biden won in 2020.
It’s not unusual for world leaders to meet with opposition candidates during election years. Trump has said he plans to meet next week with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi. But it is more unusual to be appearing with a candidate in a battleground state.
Duda’s office says that he will attend a Roman Catholic Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon followed by the unveiling of a monument to the anti-communist Solidarity movement.
Trump’s campaign told The Associated Press that Trump and Duda would attend the same event in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Doylestown is the county seat. The campaign declined to say whether the two would meet or speak elsewhere or offer any additional details.
Malgorzata Paprocka, the head of Duda’s office, said she expected Trump and Duda to meet if Trump accepted an invitation to attend the unveiling.
“The president has accepted the invitation, as a Solidarity monument will be unveiled there on that day,” Paprocka told the Polish news agency PAP.
“If President Trump also accepts, the meeting will take place,” she said, adding that the primary subjects of discussion between Duda and Trump would revolve around enhancing security and reinforcing Poland’s standing.
Asked about the odds of the meeting, Paprocka said it was probable, but her office was not the organizer.
She also stated that Duda had stressed on multiple occasions that the US was Poland’s key partner, so Poles must forge an alliance irrespective of which U.S. administration was currently in power.
Duda’s office refused to comment further about the matter when contacted Wednesday.
Duda, who will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week, has long expressed admiration for Trump, once floating the idea of naming a military base “Fort Trump.” The idea was widely mocked and never happened.
When Duda was in a close reelection race in 2020, then-President Trump hosted him at the White House, giving him a critical boost among voters in one of Europe’s most pro-U.S. countries.
Duda previously met with Trump in New York in April, when Trump referred to the conservative Polish leader as a “friend.” Duda faced criticism back home in Poland for that visit, with critics worried it could hurt Warsaw’s relationship with the Biden administration.
Duda’s supporters defended him, saying it was important to have good ties with both sides. They also viewed it as a way for Poland, which is located on Ukraine’s border, to make the case for continuing to help Kyiv as it fights off an invasion by Russia.
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Colvin reported from New York.