Leszek Miller about Trump in Davos: A False Tale of “Lonely America”

Leszek Miller, erstwhile Prime Minister of Poland and longtime leader of the Democratic Left Alliance, has remained 1 of the most recognizable figures of the Polish political scene since 1989. His statements, besides after formal withdrawal from current politics, are regularly commented upon and treated as a realistic voice, frequently skeptical towards Western dominant narratives.

On January 23, on Facebook, he referred to Donald Trump's speech in Davos, scoring well-known words about “single America”, betrayed by allies and forced to bear another people's costs.

L. Miller's entry in the FB. Click to enlarge.

Miller writes:Trump in Davos decided to tell the planet a communicative about America alone like a gunfighter on the prairie: she fought, spilled blood, paid bills, and allies – as usual – hid behind her back. It's a constant component of his repertoire: a monologue of betrayal, ingratitude, and American hurt, told with the face of an accountant who discovered that everyone had an elaborate dinner on his account.

The problem is it's a false story. Trump speaks of a "no allies' aid" as if the wars waged by the United States were a collective venture to which Europe had avoided its responsibilities.

Meanwhile, most of these wars were Washington's decision, frequently against the skepticism of allies, and sometimes against common sense. Poland was not a spectator of American wars. She wasn't sitting in the stands, commenting from a safe distance. In Iraq, she took command of 1 of the largest stabilization zones, sent soldiers to places the average voter in the United States would never pronounce. In Afghanistan, for years, she was at the top of the real front – not symbolically, not "on paper", but where she truly was shot.

44 Polish soldiers were killed. Many returned physically and mentally mutilated. For a medium-sized country, without a colonial past and without global imperial ambitions, it was a immense price. Poland did not send troops to "earn in war" just due to the fact that it believed in the sense of the alliance – that safety is common and solidarity works both ways.

Davos was to hear the reflection of the leader of the free planet on work and common interests. He heard a complaint from the creditor that threatens to turn the tap next time. And the world, which will become accustomed to America speaking only the language of pretension, will begin to look for alternatives. And then Trump will be able to give another speech – this time about how America was truly alone.

Comment

Polish example is peculiarly uncomfortable for Trumpian thesis. Iraq and Afghanistan were neither a geopolitical adventure nor a colonial fantasy for Warsaw. They were trying to prove the alliance wasn't an empty word. Commanding the stabilization zone, a long-standing presence on the front, 44 killed soldiers, are not “symbolic gestures” Trump speaks of with contempt but hard facts.

Miller besides correctly notes a change in the speech of American leadership. Davos has not heard the communicative of shared responsibility, but the language of the accountant and the creditor who threatens to cut off the funding. specified a message can mobilise an electorate in the United States, but in the long run it undermines the sense of alliances. If safety is to be purely a transaction, sooner or later the another side will start looking for another supplier.

Miller's punch line is cool and logical: An America that speaks only the language of pretension produces itself a planet in which it truly is left alone. And then even the most suggestive monologue of ungrateful allies is not adequate to cover the fact that it was loneliness on its own request.

→ I.R. Parchatkiewicz

27.01.2026

• title photo: Leszek Miller (2020), photo: public domain

• more author texts: > Here.