Trump-backed Nationalist Defeats Soros-backed Candidate in Polish Presidential Election

In a close 50.89%-49.11% victory, Donald Trump-backed nationalist Karol Nawrocki defeated Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a close friend of Alex Soros, in Poland’s presidential election.

Nawrocki officially ran as an independent, but was backed by Law and Justice, a right-wing populist party with close ties to the Catholic Church. Their ideology is in complete contrast to that of Soros’ so-called “open society” vision, and they’ve been openly critical of George Soros. 

Trump hosted Nawrocki at the White House last month in a sign of support, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem gave a speech endorsing him and encouraging people to vote for him at CPAC’s first conference in Poland last week. 

Meanwhile, Trzaskowsk was billed as a “center-left” candidate, and is part of the Civic Platform, which is the largest party in Poland’s lower and upper house. Law and Justice formally held majorities in both chambers. 

Alex was in Poland just days before the first round of voting in the 2025 presidential election (which began on May 18) for the Impact CEE conference, the biggest business conference in Europe after Davos, where he said he was there to discuss the reaction to Trump’s second term.

Law and Justice had held power for eight years before losing control in parliament in 2023. The Soros machine had invested heavily in the media in an attempt to dethrone them in the years leading up to it. 

In 2019, ahead of crucial Polish parliamentary elections, publisher Agora, which owns the major daily Gazeta Wyborcza, partnered with a Soros-backed fund, SFS Ventures, to acquire a 40% and 60% stake, respectively, in Eurozet, Poland’s second-largest radio station, for $34 million. The move was widely seen as an effort to attack PIS, which failed as PIS was able to remain in power through their “United Right” coalition.

Pluralis, a Dutch investment fund backed by Soros purchased 40% of the leading Polish publisher Gremi Media for the equivalent of roughly 21 million Euros in January 2022. Among Gremi’s publications include the second-biggest non-tabloid daily paper in the country. Shareholders include the Soros Economic Development Fund (17.41%), King Baudouin Foundation (28.46%), and Mediahuis (25.39%).

Pluralis is managed by the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which Soros also funds. The MDIF has invested in other police publications that include the owner of Poland’s leading non-tabloid daily, and a leading critic of the conservative government.

The empire expanded the month of the 2023 election when Pluralis purchased a controlling stake in Rzeczpospolita, one of the most prestigious news outlets in Poland, in a move widely seen as being to influence the upcoming elections. Rzeczpospolita is generally a right-leaning paper, and Law and Justice officials criticized the takeover.

PIS would go on to lose control in the 2023 elections after winning a sizable percentage of seats that fell below a majority and failing to find a coalition partner. Alex just suffered his first loss in Poland - and we’ll have to wait and see what the next parliamentary elections in 2027 have in store for him. 

Matt Palumbo is the author of The Heir: Inside the (Not So) Secret Network of Alex Soros