“People in my generation worshipped the United States during communism. Everybody wanted to flee to the US. It was the land of the dream. And now we confront a different type of country, different type of politics — and we don’t dream of the US anymore.” — Bartosz Wieliński
I’m just back from Warsaw where I spent an afternoon at the offices of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s liberal newspaper of record. I talked with Bartosz Wieliński, the newspaper’s Deputy Editor and one of the country’s most respected journalists.
The message from Warsaw is dire — at least for America. Wieliński told me that his generation grew up worshipping the United States. But they no longer do. The Americans, he says, have lost not only their credibility and their values, but their minds.
Invoking Timothy Snyder, Wieliński describes this as the “suicide of a superpower.” Trump didn’t have to start a trade war. He didn’t have to bomb Iran without strategic objectives. He didn’t have to destroy US aid programmes that were the most cost-effective democracy-promotion tool in the world. He didn’t have to cripple NATO or sacrifice Ukraine. He chose to do all of it.
Wake up, America! That’s Bartosz Wieliński’s stark message from Warsaw. Don’t lose Europe. Trump will be gone sooner or later. Make sure he hasn’t burned every bridge with Europe before he exits.
Five Takeaways
• We No Longer Dream of the United States: Wieliński’s generation grew up under communism worshipping America — the land of the dream, the place everyone wanted to reach. Now they confront a different country with a different politics. The Americans, he says, didn’t lose anything. The Poles didn’t lose their innocence. The Americans lost their credibility, their values, and their minds by electing Donald Trump. If anyone lost anything, it was Americans. Not Poles.
• The Suicide of a Superpower: Wieliński invokes Timothy Snyder’s phrase to describe what Trump is doing. The US started a war with Iran without having any strategic objectives. Nobody heard Trump say what his objective was. America had friends, influence, and soft power — US aid was the most cost-effective democracy-promotion tool in the world. It is being deliberately destroyed. NATO was the best investment America ever made: the only time Article Five was invoked was by Europeans, to defend America, after September 11. Crippling NATO means losing Europe, and there is no way back.
• The Dark Enlightenment and Silicon Valley: Wieliński identifies a specific group behind Trump’s project: very rich and powerful people connected to big tech who believe they can reshape politics through platforms, influence behaviour through technology, and create a new technological order — reversing political development back to before the Enlightenment. They call it the dark enlightenment. Europe, he says, rejects it. Europe will defend its societies against that influence.
• The New Division: Democrats vs Anti-Democrats: The key political division everywhere Wieliński looks is no longer between left and right. It is between supporters of democracy and its enemies. In Germany: the AfD at 30%, while the mainstream parties have collapsed from a combined 70% to a combined 35%. In France: the horseshoe theory — far left and far right meeting at the ends of the arc, both willing to work together to dismantle democracy. In Poland: a colourful coalition from right to left defending democracy against PiS. The same coalition will be needed everywhere.
• Wake Up: Don’t Lose Europe: Wieliński’s message to Americans: wake up. You still have friends in Europe. Europeans still want to believe in America as the land of promise and freedom. But don’t destroy what you spent so many decades building. Trump will be gone sooner or later. Make sure he hasn’t burned every bridge with Europe before he exits. If those bridges are destroyed, they will be very hard to rebuild.
About the Guest
Bartosz Wieliński is Deputy Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s leading liberal daily newspaper. He was formerly the paper’s Berlin correspondent. Gazeta Wyborcza was founded in 1989, the year of Poland’s first free elections.
References:
• Gazeta Wyborcza — Poland’s liberal newspaper of record, founded 1989.
• Timothy Snyder — referenced for “suicide of a superpower.” Previously appeared on KOA.
• The horseshoe theory — the idea that the extreme left and extreme right, at the ends of the political horseshoe, are closer to each other than either is to the centre.
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 3,000 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.
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Chapters:
- (00:30) - Introduction: Warsaw, Gazeta Wyborcza, and lost illusions
- (01:25) - We no longer dream of the United States
- (02:17) - The Americans lost their credibility, not the Poles
- (02:41) - Message to Trump voters: you did it wrong
- (03:51) - Timothy Snyder: the suicide of a superpower
- (05:00) - The Iran war: no strategic objectives
- (06:00) - US aid: the most cost-effective democracy tool ever destroyed
- (07:00) - NATO: Article Five was invoked by Europeans, for America
- (08:10) - Silicon Valley and the dark enlightenment
- (09:14) - Trump’s policy as an opportunity for Europe
- (27:26) - The new division: democrats vs anti-democrats
- (27:52) - Germany: the AfD at 30%
- (31:15) - The horseshoe theory
- (33:45) - Wake up, America: don’t lose Europe
