Two Trump-friendly nationalists are vying to lead Ukraine's European neighbors
One of them often dons a Trump-style red baseball cap and wants to make his country 'great again.' The other visited the US president at the White House to drum up support. Both could soon become presidents of major allies on Ukraine's border.
In Romania, the hard-right euroskeptic George Simion convincingly won the first round of the presidential re-run on Sunday, making him a strong favorite to win the final round on May 18.
On that same day, Poland will also hold the first round of a presidential ballot, where both the nationalist candidate Karol Nawrocki and the far-right upstart Sławomir Mentzen have been making gains. If no candidate wins more than 50% of votes, a second round will be held two weeks later.
Although victory for Simion is much more likely than for Poland's right-wing candidates, Europe is now facing the prospect that two of Ukraine's neighbors could by next month be led by presidents who are hostile towards Brussels and aping a MAGA-style politics.
'Congratulations,' Nawrocki said to Simion on Monday in a message of support on X.
Also hailing Simion's first-round victory, Mentzen jokingly asked if Romanian authorities 'will cancel the elections again.' This was a reference to the decision last year by Romania's constitutional court to annul the first-round victory of Calin Georgescu, a Kremlin-friendly ultranationalist, after intelligence services pointed to possible Russian interference in his TikTok-fueled campaign, which he and Moscow denied. Georgescu was later banned from May's re-run, after prosecutors charged him with establishing a fascist group and other crimes.
The court's decision to cancel the election had little precedent, outraged many in the country and caught the attention of officials in the Trump administration. In his blistering speech in Munich in February, US Vice President JD Vance singled out Romania as the grossest case of what he called Europe's 'threat from within.'
Sunday's first-round results showed the court's decision did little to quell Romania's simmering nationalist fervor and may even have inflamed it. Whereas Georgescu secured 22% of votes in November, Simion won a resounding 41% in May's do-over, far exceeding polling expectations. His nearest contender, Nicusor Dan, the centrist mayor of the capital Bucharest, came second at around 21%.
Many in Brussels will be hoping that the pro-European Union voters will rally around Dan in the second round, shutting the far-right out of power, as happened in France in its parliamentary election last year. But analysts say divisions among the mainstream parties mean Simion is likely to win the May 18 second round.
Although Romania, like Poland, has a parliamentary system, the presidents of both countries are commanders of the armed forces and have significant sway over military spending and foreign policy.
While not as brazen as Georgescu, Simion shares many of his views and even cast his ballot alongside him on Sunday. Simion has long voiced his opposition to military aid for Ukraine, and last year was banned by Kyiv from entering the country, citing his 'systematic anti-Ukrainian activities.' He is also barred from visiting neighboring Moldova. Simion has claimed he is not anti-Ukraine or pro-Russia, but simply 'pro-Romanian.'
In Poland, the picture is less clear-cut. With President Andrzej Duda of the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) unable to run for a third term, Karol Nawrocki – currently head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance – is attempting to pick up his mantle. Meanwhile, Sławomir Mentzen, a leader of the far-right Confederation Liberty and Independence alliance, has climbed up the polls – but is deemed unlikely to reach the second round.
Although technically running as an independent, Nawrocki has the backing of PiS, which became increasingly authoritarian over its eight years in power, before its defeat in a 2023 parliamentary election by an alliance led by Donald Tusk's liberal Civic Platform party.
Nawrocki met Trump at the White House last week to mark the National Day of Prayer. 'President Trump said, 'you will win,'' Nawrocki told private broadcaster TV Republika after his reception in the Oval Office.
Nawrocki has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of behaving 'indecently' towards his allies, echoing criticism by Vance that the Ukrainian president is not sufficiently 'grateful' for the support his country receives. In the fallout from Zelensky's Oval Office meeting with Trump and Vance, Tusk – prime minister since 2023 – said it is 'becoming clear who in Poland wants to pursue Russian interests.'
Currently polling at around 25%, Nawrocki is trailing Rafał Trzaskowski, the centrist mayor of Warsaw representing Tusk's Civic Platform party, who is leading at around 33%.
But Simion's overperforming polling expectations will provide encouragement to Poland's conservative candidates.
Mentzen said Simion's first-round victory showed that 'Romanians again want to choose differently than the EU elites would like.' Further to the right than Nawrocki, Mentzen has also tacked closely to Trump, calling for a MAGA-style 'revolution of common sense' in Poland.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
28 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Arizona Teen Girl Dies After Copying Viral 'Dusting' TikTok Trend
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A 19-year-old girl from Arizona has died after taking part in a deadly social-media trend. Renna O'Rourke died on Sunday, June 1 after seven days in an ICU. Her death came after she participated in an act known to many on social media as "dusting." "She was the light in every room she walked into, and the pain that her family and friends feel is simply immeasurable," Renna's father, Aaron O'Rourke, said in a GoFundMe set up to cover his daughter's medical and funeral costs. Her organs were donated following her death. An offshoot of "huffing" and "chroming," two other forms of inhalant abuse, "dusting" involves the inhalation of computer dusting spray in an effort to achieve a momentary sense of intoxication. But the inhalation of these toxic chemicals can seriously impact the nervous system resulting in dizziness, slurred speech and, potentially, death. Newsweek has contacted Aaron and Dana O'Rourke, Renna's parents, for comment on email and social media. TikTok has also been contacted for comment. Why It Matters O'Rourke's death is a reminder of the dangers posed by inhalant abuse and the role social media has in tragedies of this kind. In March 2024, an 11-year-old boy from the U.K. died after copying videos he had seen on social media of people sniffing or inhaling toxic substances. Sherri-Ann Gracie, the mother of Tommie-lee, called for action to be taken on social media when her son was found unresponsive after a sleepover at a friend's house; he later died. In May 2023, Esra Haynes, 13, from Melbourne, Australia, died after inhaling chemicals from an aerosol deodorant can while imitating a social-media trend. What is especially concerning to Dana O'Rourke is the easy availability of many of the inhalants used in viral trends like "dusting." She told AZFamily: "There's no ID required. It's odorless. It's everything kids look for. They can afford it, they can get it and it doesn't show in mom and dad's drug test." What To Know Though repeated use can lead to serious health issues, Renna O'Rourke died as a result of "sudden sniffing death syndrome;" this can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise-healthy young person. The DEA says that sudden sniffing death is particularly associated with the abuse of butane. Though inhalation abuse is not a new practice, figures cited by CNN show an increase in the number of teens taking part. From 2015 to 2022, the number of 12- to 17-year-old American adolescents using inhalants declined from 684,000 in 2015 to 554,000 in 2022, according to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. However, by 2023, SAMHSA data showed that number was on the rise, climbing to 564,000. There are a huge number of easily available and potentially dangerous inhalants, with the DEA estimating the total is in excess of 1,000. In February 2022, TikTok introduced new measures designed to address the rise of potentially harmful online challenges. Under the changes, any users attempting to search for content designated as potentially harmful would be directed to an in-app guide, while searches for content violated community guideless blocked. A new four-step process for engaging with an online challenge was also introduced. Despite this, some concerns still remain. What People Are Saying Dr. Randy Weisman. from the intensive care unit at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, told AZFamily: "When they inhale these chemicals in the gas it will actually replace the oxygen within their lungs and within the rest of their body." He warned just one huff can prove deadly resulting in "failure of the liver, heart failure, disease of the lungs." What Happens Next Several state legislatures have taken steps to try to deter young people from buying these legal products by placing a restriction on the sale of these products to minors. However, despite posing a risk, many of these substances are not currently controlled by the Controlled Substances Act. Renna's parents look set to challenge this, with Aaron O'Rourke confirming, via the family's GoFundMe, that they will be "pursuing legislation to help prevent any other families from having to go through this."
Los Angeles Times
38 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine kill 4, injure around 50
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia bombarded six regions of Ukraine in one of its largest aerial attacks of the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said Friday. The nighttime assault lasted for hours and killed three emergency responders in the capital Kyiv as well as another person in a northwestern city, according to authorities. The barrage included 407 drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones. Some 50 Ukrainian civilians were injured across the country, emergency services said. The latest Russian attack came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts. Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. 'Russia doesn`t change its stripes,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Zelensky, as well as the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and the general prosecutor's office, said three emergency workers were killed in Kyiv while responding to the Russian strikes. 'They were working under fire to help people,' the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The war has continued unabated even as a U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. 'The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia's repeated refusal to offer any concessions,' the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Thursday. Putin said in a phone call with Trump earlier this week that he would respond to Ukraine's daring long-range attack on Russian air bases on Sunday. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it had aimed at Ukrainian military targets with 'long-range precision weapons' and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets. Putin, who denounced the Ukrainian government as 'terrorist' after the weekend attacks on Russian air bases and railway bombings that Moscow blamed on Ukraine, promised a response to the air base assault. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that 'all that is being done by our military daily is a response to the actions by' Ukraine. Friday's barrage fits into a pattern of Russian attacks throughout the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attacks demonstrated key differences between Russia and Ukraine. 'The difference … is that Ukraine hits legitimate military targets—such as aircraft equipped to bomb our children. Russia targets residential areas, civilians, and critical infrastructure,' Sybiha wrote on X. 'Putting Ukraine and Russia on equal footing is unacceptable.' In Russia, air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended during the night as a precaution. Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said. Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea. Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said. Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network. In Kyiv, multiple explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter. Fourteen-year-old Kyiv resident Vitalina Vasylchenko sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges. 'I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand, then there was a very loud explosion,' she said. 'My whole life flashed before my eyes, I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack ... I'm shocked that I'm alive.' Ukraine's human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, called for a strong international response to Russia's latest overnight attack, saying the assault violated basic human rights. 'Russia is acting like a terrorist, systematically targeting civilian infrastructure,' Lubinets wrote on Telegram. 'The world must respond clearly and take concrete steps, including condemning the aggressor's actions.' Authorities reported damage in several districts in Kyiv, and rescue workers responded to damage and fires at multiple locations. In Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story residential building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment. The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv's eastern bank were without power, the Kyiv City Administration said. Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies. Three people were also injured in Ukraine's central Poltava region. Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, and the northern Chernihiv region. Arhirova and Stepanenko write for the Associated Press.
The Hill
38 minutes ago
- The Hill
Why Trump stopped listening to Netanyahu
In his first term, President Trump was widely seen as a knee-jerk defender of Israel. Now, not so much. Whether and how far Washington splits from Jerusalem — especially on Iran's nuclear-weapons program — has enormous security implications for America, Israel and the wider Middle East. For Trump, personal relationships with foreign leaders equate to the relations between their countries. If he is friendly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then U.S.-Israel relations are good. And vice versa. Today, neither relationship is fully broken, but both are increasingly strained. Seeking the strongly pro-Israel evangelical Christian vote in 2016, Trump pledged to withdraw from President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal and generally provide Israel strong support. He kept that promise, exiting the agreement in 2018. Moreover, Trump moved America's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, merged the separate Palestinian liaison office into the bilateral U.S. mission, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and protected Israel at the U.N. Security Council. The transactional basis for these acts was clear. Having close personal relations with Netanyahu, or at least appearing to, buttressed this political imperative. How good those first-term relations really were invites debate, but a continuing rationale was Trump's desire for reelection in 2020 and, later, 2024. Keeping the pro-Israel vote was a top priority in both races. Even though tensions developed between Trump and Netanyahu, few surfaced publicly. In 2024, Trump held the evangelical vote while losing Jewish voters to Harris by a mere 34 points. Even many Harris voters believed Trump would safeguard Israel's interests. But now that electoral constraint is gone, since Trump has essentially admitted he cannot run again. Meanwhile, earlier irritants — such as Netanyahu garnering publicity for his role in the 2020 strike against Iran's Qassem Soleimani, swiftly congratulating Joe Biden for winning in 2020 and his general aptitude for getting more attention than Trump himself — caused personal relations to grow frostier. And all of this was very likely fed by Trump's recurring envy of Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. So in just four months since the inauguration, Trump concluded a separate peace with Yemen's Houthi rebels, ending inconclusive U.S. efforts to clear the Red Sea maritime passage and leaving Israel in the lurch while Houthi missiles targeted Ben Gurion airport. The White House, without Israel, bargained with Hamas for release of Edan Alexander, their last living American hostage. Trump's first major overseas trip was to three Gulf Arab countries, but he skipped Israel, in direct contrast to his first term. While in Saudi Arabia, Trump lifted sanctions imposed on Syria's Assad dictatorship, clearly breaking with Israel, which retains grave doubts about the militant group that ousted Assad and now rules the country. The record is not entirely negative. Trump sanctioned the International Criminal Court for initiating investigations against Netanyahu and his former defense minister. He broadly, but not unreservedly, backs Israel's campaign against Hamas. But the greatest divergence has emerged over the existential threat of Iran's nuclear weapons program. On April 7, during Netanyahu's second post-inaugural visit to the Oval Office, no one seemed more stunned than he when Trump announced that Steve Witkoff would soon be negotiating with Iran. Trump had previously disclosed writing to Ayatollah Khamenei, expressing openness to negotiation but setting a two-month deadline, implying military force should talks fail. If the clock started from the date Iran received the letter, that two-month period has ended. If it began with the first Witkoff-Iran meeting (April 12 in Oman), the drop-dead date is imminent. Trump could extend the deadline, but that would simply extend Israel's peril. Reports that Witkoff has broached an 'interim' or 'framework' deal further exacerbate the dangers of Tehran tapping Washington along. Time is always on the proliferator's side. While discussions languish, Iran can even further disperse, conceal and harden its nuclear weapons assets. Trump acknowledges pressing Israel more than once not to strike Iran's nuclear program. Such public rebukes to a close ally facing mortal peril are themselves extraordinary, proving how hard Trump is trying to save Witkoff's endeavors. Little is known about the talks' substance, but reports show signs of inconsistency and uncertainty — indeed incompetence — over such critical issues as whether Iran would be permitted to enrich uranium to reactor-grade levels, the original sin of the Obama deal. To say Netanyahu is worried is more than an understatement. Trump's behavior is entirely consistent with greater personal distance from Netanyahu and a desire to be the central figure, rather than Netanyahu's Israel taking dispositive action against Tehran's threat. It may also reflect the isolationist voices within his administration, although not among Republicans generally, as 52 senators and 177 representatives have publicly urged Trump not to throw Iran a lifeline. Israel did not ask permission in 1981 before destroying Saddam Hussein's Osirak reactor, or in 2007 before destroying Iran's reactor that was under construction in the Syrian desert. Trump is grievously mistaken if he thinks Netanyahu will 'chicken out,' standing idly by as Iran becomes a nuclear power. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. John Bolton was national security adviser to President Trump from 2018 to 2019 and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006. He held senior State Department posts from 1981 to 1983, from 1989 to 1993 and from 2001 to 2005.
