Donald Tusk is not a politician who is overly attached to telling the truth. He has strong media coverage, so he will get away with it for a long time. But words about not overly alarming predictions are a painful stick that will never leave him.
Friday the thirteenth. The Polish Press Agency published a telegram with the headline: “Prime Minister: There is no reason to panic, the forecasts are not overly alarming.” The only threat – according to Donald Tusk – was local flooding and “so-called flash floods.” It quickly turned out that this would be a disaster. And not on a local scale. The unfortunate telegram disappeared and returned after a brief discussion, but it is clear that the prime minister had already had a ruined weekend. Especially since he had to stay in Lower Silesia and could not fly to Sopot.
Why did Tusk make such a statement? Before him, his own Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak had announced that the situation was very bad. A day earlier, in the neighboring Czech Republic, Prime Minister Fiala warned his compatriots to be prepared for the worst. So what did Tusk try to do? There is no point in rationalizing that he received some optimistic forecasts, because clearly there could not have been any. He also had no reason to preach official optimism, because he was not responsible for the heavy rains. It would be fine if he said the same thing as Petr Fiala.
The only explanation is to look for answers in certain personality traits. In short, Tusk is not “overly” attached to telling the truth, as we have seen many times recently. He has the ease of saying things he wants to hear. Let us remember “100 specifics for 100 days”, gasoline for PLN 5.18 and, finally, the tricks regarding immigrants. Why is he lying? Because maybe. Because most of the media in Poland support him and will keep quiet about everything. Just like the case of the referendum or the “assistant” from Ukraine who likes strange photos. So Teflon does not peel off for a long time, even if its owner does not take “excessive” care of the coating.
However, it is all a matter of time. Political mills work very slowly. There are phrases that survive and slowly exhaust their author. The words “you need insurance” still haunt Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, even though almost thirty years have passed since they were uttered. “There is no money and there will be no money” is another example of the immersion of a golden-mouthed politician. “We need to talk to Russia as it is” is a phrase that, when quoted, can easily create the effect of “Donald is furious”. It is no coincidence that journalists critical of Tusk are forbidden from asking him questions at press conferences.
Now, the overconfident and even arrogant Tusk turned the whip against himself.
The forecasts are not overly alarming, there is no reason to panic
– this is the kind of quote that will never be separated from its author.
And even if Tusk were to now order the arrest of all MPs of Sovereign Poland and order the demolition of the vaults of the National Council of the Judiciary, the National Bank of Poland, the Constitutional Court and the Presidential Palace, this would only divert attention for a short time. He uttered a phrase – without exaggeration – that has become immortal. Regarding Prime Minister Tusk’s words on Friday, September 13, the forecasts are not overly optimistic, and yet there is reason for panic.
