Donald Tusk and Polish president exchange blows on Twitter over 'LGBT ideology' claims
Donald Tusk and the president of Poland have exchanged blows on Twitter after Mr Tusk accused his fellow Pole of ruining Poland's reputation.
The heated public exchange happened after Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, claimed LGBT "ideology" was worse than communism while on the campaign trail for Poland’s presidential elections, due to be held on June 28.
Apparently riled by the comments Mr Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, vented his anger in a tweet.
"The president of Poland should protect its reputation. Andrzej Duda is doing everything to ruin it. His campaign has brought shame on Poland from around the world."
Mr Duda responded by mocking Mr Tusk for not running for the presidency and instead “hiding behind the backs” of other candidates from the centre-right Civic Platform, the ex-prime minister’s old party.
In response Mr Tusk, who now works as the president of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, said he had wanted to run against Mr Duda’s “supervisor”, a veiled reference to Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice, the party the president once belonged to.
An MP holding no public office, Mr Kaczynski is regarded by many as the most powerful political figure in Poland, with critics accusing him of exerting huge levels of influence both over the country’s government and president.
The exchange of Twitter blows continued with the president reminding Mr Tusk that he had once run against Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw’s late twin brother, for the presidency in 2005 and had “lost badly”.
The heated argument came as Poland prepared itself for what could be a fractious and bitter presidential election.
Mr Duda had been a clear favourite to win the election, which was postponed from May 10 owing to the pandemic, but has since lost ground to Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, who is the main opposition candidate and once served with Mr Tusk in government.
The president’s comparison of LGBT “ideology” to communism, and a pledge to protect Polish families from it, are designed to appeal to Poland’s conservative voters.
