What awaits the world in the era of Donald Trump? Correspondents' discussion in “Fakty po Faktach”

The Christmas edition of “Fakty po Faktach” featured journalists from “Fakty” TVN Andrzej Zaucha, Marcin Wrona and Maciej Woroch. As correspondents, they reported and continue to report events including: from the United States, Great Britain, the Middle East, Russia Whether Ukraine. Now they were discussing how the leadership of America would be taken by Donald Trump will affect international politics and ongoing conflicts.

Marcin Wrona described what is currently happening on the American political scene and who really stands out on it. Trump will not take office until January 20, so he is still formally president Joe Biden. – There was once a movie called “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Now you could make a movie: “Honey, I Shrunk the President.” And this movie could be made by Donald Trump. Because Joe Biden actually doesn't exist. He's gone. We saw this during the negotiations on Capitol Hill regarding the interim budget. He did not take part in these negotiations at all, Wrona explained.

However, – he noted – “Donald Trump, Elon Musk, JD Vance, i.e. those who are just coming,” took part. – Joe Biden has given up the presidency completely, you could say. Among other things, because, firstly, his position has been really decreasing day by day since losing the presidential debate in June this year. Joe Biden mattered less and less. There was less and less of it, he said.

– Secondly, after what happened in November during the elections, the Democratic Party ceased to exist within the framework we knew before. Democrats themselves do not know what kind of party they should be now and are actually busy looking for a way to get out of this huge crisis, he continued.

– What is Donald Trump doing? Of course, he takes advantage of the situation. There is a saying that there are people who, as soon as they enter a room, immediately consume all the oxygen in that room. That's what Donald Trump does. It uses up all the oxygen, he said. He noted that “Trump still has four weeks until he takes power, but he's actually in charge.”

Woroch, however, talked about the possibility of ending the war in the Middle East with the help of the United States. – When it comes to Middle EastI wouldn't be so sure about that. Of course Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will count on the fact that Trump is a better ally for their interests, but the Middle East has been called a powder keg for decades, in which so many different interests are mixed that not only Americans have something to say here, he noted.

– I would believe that the American administration will have sufficient tools to put pressure on these and other forces in the Middle East. But then again, I would remember that over the last year Iran attacked twice Israel rockets. This is something that hasn't happened for decades. Something that two years ago (…) was unimaginable, before this unfortunate operation in Gaza began – added the journalist.

– What will the American administration aim to do? It is clear from all of Donald Trump's announcements that he will want to end this. But he likes to end a lot of things with words. In practice, I would expect that its declaratory ending would translate into some long negotiations in which the Americans would be embroiled for some time, he continued.

In his opinion, Trump “sees interests in the Middle East a little differently than the state of Israel”, which “wants a refurbishment of the Middle East”. – And every time someone wants to change the furniture in the Middle East, it ends badly for the Americans – he said.

What hopes does Ukraine have for the administration of the Republican president? As Zaucha said, in this nation “on the one hand, there are great hopes, on the other hand, great uncertainty about what will happen after January 20, when Trump will formally start ruling and will actually have all the instruments in his hand to influence what is happening also in Ukraine and Russia”. – Ukrainians hope that Trump can do a lot and can actually bring about the end of the war. On the other hand, these hopes related to Trump are in contrast to what Biden was doing, he said.

And he explained: – Of course United States they greatly helped Ukrainians in the fight against Russia, supplied weapons, and provided money on a huge scale. Although it is now very common to criticize, first of all, President Biden and his security advisers, many key decisions for Ukraine – regarding the supply of weapons, let's start with HIMARS missiles, then tanks, now a decision that Ukrainians have been begging for throughout this year , about the possibility of attacking targets in Russia using long-range American or British missiles – these decisions were postponed.

According to the journalist of “Fakty” TVN24, “it was clearly visible that Washington was afraid of Russia's reaction.” – He is afraid that we are getting too close to the border of nuclear war, that Putin may not only blackmail the world with nuclear weapons, but may also use them – he said.

As he argued, “thanks to the fact that it was mainly the United States that supported Ukraine and kept Ukraine at such a level that it could effectively defend itself against Russian attacks, Trump can very easily use this tool to put pressure on President Zelensky.” – He'll say that if you don't talk to him Vladimir PutinIf you don't seek an agreement with him, I will take it all away from you. I won't support you, Zaucha continued. He said that “this way of putting pressure on President Zelensky is very simple.”

He noted that “on the other hand, there is Vladimir Putin, with whom talks will certainly be very difficult and undoubtedly, above all, the United States will have to put such pressure on Vladimir Putin to agree to some kind of compromise.”

Zaucha, who repeatedly reported on events in Russia and later in Ukraine, also reported that “the situation on the front has been constantly deteriorating over the course of this year.” – A year ago, when I was asked about what would happen in Ukraine in 2024, I repeated it, and the Ukrainians said it: Ukraine is moving to strategic defense. It doesn't have enough weapons, it doesn't have enough soldiers, (…) it can't launch another major offensive, it can't retake the areas occupied by the Russians. He will defend himself. – he recalled.

– And 2025 will be very similar. This means that Ukraine will defend itself and now the question is how this Ukrainian defense will affect a possible agreement, he added.

He pointed out that “we have been hearing a change in the tone of the Ukrainian president for several weeks.” – Previously, he kept repeating: there are no talks with Russia until we retake all the areas occupied by the Russians. Now that has changed. The Ukrainian president admits that these areas may have to be retaken (…) later, after concluding some kind of agreement with Russia, he added.