order your copy today, wherever books and e-books are sold. on "q&a" don burka on the special exists in -- addition of this magazine. >> there is a lot going on in this country right now, and it is unsettling times for americans, everything having to do with the covid crisis to the lockdowns to the killing of george floyd and the subsequent killings and riots. a lot of people are taking the opportunity to re-examine first principles and try to figure out where we stand as a nation. c-span q&a.ight on

host: this is the headline, joining us on the phone from poland is marc anthony centaur who covers all of this as the bureau chief for the new york times. thank you for being with us. explain what this means for poland and also the trump administration. this party came to power five years ago, part of a wave across parts of europe, and it ,erved much of that five years in part because of their ideology but probably more so because of the financial

policies that were very generous social worker programs. before the pandemic hit, it looks like the president was coasting to reelection, but then the pandemic hit, and then they had to postpone the election. hen the mayor of warsaw entered the race, and he deprived -- surprised everyone by giving it a tight context. sunday.last that is the background. the reelection of the party, some of the things they've done over the past five years that have concerned observers and members of the european union having to do with changes to the takeover of, the the propaganda arm of the government and some of the other troubles worldwide, even though it was a tight race, they are

now pushing through more changes. host: the present travel to the united states last month meeting in a rose garden press conference and here is part of what he told reporters. repelledars ago we russians from warsaw. we defeated them and we drove them back and that was a great victory but we managed to stop , and we would never want to see the situation repeated again. it is important to us. i am pleased that both within nato and in the united states, that the president of the united states understands the history and the realities in europe and understands the situation and that it is developing in europe. to date this generates peace to

my country and bring security -- ambitionsf that which have been revised over the past tense of years because george it was attacked in 2008, that has been stopped at least for the time being. i have no doubt that this is a marriage of the united states. i am grateful. host: so the comments of the president of poland, as you hear that, how does that contrast ,ith other european leaders especially with regard to nato? guest: i think a couple of things, one is poland traditionally, regardless of party, has had a close relationship with the u.s.. what is different in this

administration, poland has aligned itself with the trump administration to a degree, for instance when they are try to get more troops based here, mr. trump had the: president to the white house, and that was unusual. thesethat level demonstrations are on the same page, but the long-term consequences of that remains to -- do they paynd place? -- price for that one final point, as you look at nato, poland is ninth out of the nato nations print the u.s. is leading in terms of funding. what will change in this

administration especially if trump is reelected? i do not have to look to the future. i am just trying to understand what just happened. trump has president made his wariness of these organizations well known. his relationship with germany has not been a good one. i think it would be a difficult relationship to repair, not that he would care to necessarily. host: with regard to the poland election, what was the turnout like? the highest turnout since 1989, and it was remarkable, how energized people were. what was striking was the vibe in the building. also all around the world you have this divide, but you saw and so you had a

real generational vibe which i think is going to be the next story in poland politics going forward. host: marc anthony santora is the east and central european road chief, and thank you for being with us. we will continue our look at poland and what it means for that country and the future of europe. fried,t guest is daniel served as the u.s. ambassador to poland during the george w. bush administration. i went to begin with a piece you wrote, you said, turning poland into a hard right direction would weaken the country's .tanding in europe going to be aner alternative to the european

union for poland. on that front, based on what happened and the reelection of the president, what does that mean? that thethink president of full and has done a skillful job managing the relationship with trump, meaning duda himself is not nearly as skeptical of alliances or the european union as some of the ideologues around president trump or president tr ump himself. pullen plus prosperity depends on the integration into the wider european economy and its relationship with germany, and duda knows this. when he visited washington before the elections, he skillfully avoided getting in

between, getting sucked into this right between trump and the german chancellor, and i think credit -- i think pullen has done a reasonable job staying out of u.s. politics. -- pullen has done a reasonable job of staying out of u.s. politics. when i wrote that piece, i meant that poland needs to be conscious of the fact that even with support from right and left in the united states, democrats in republicans, really ever since the reagan administration or even during jimmy carter's administration. hopefully it will maintain that support. it will be tricky, especially

trump's invitation to duda. secondly there are some in the polish government that have a harder edged agenda, and there is some concern in poland that the government after the victory will move against some of the , theendent media in poland independent and partly u.s. owned television network or some of the local newspapers, some of them. government, having won the election will have to make a decision whether it popular successful economic programs with a social conservative inclination, which

it has. or whether it will take to it and add a political attack to try to seize power even from institutions, grab the media and intimidate opposition elements outside government. stressing theup u.s. polish relationship. they do not have to do this. they can win elections without that. conservatives have a base of support. choose the more moderate route because they should when doing so and poland will benefit. host: our guest had a long career in the foreign service, served as the u.s. ambassador to and 2009.ween 2005

let's get to your phone calls as we look at poland and the future of europe as well as nato. this is bill from florida. good morning. what prompted my call was the characterization on the a as a of president dud far-right do visual. i speak to people of polish descent who go back to poland, and they tell me that things are doing very well there. rates, and theax economy is doing well. why would a country that is joiningll want to be into the european union, but i wonder why he is called a far-right president?

what policies of freedom or him that characterization question. guest: that this serves discussion. you are absolute right, pullen has been successful. you have to start in 1989 when communism and regained independence paired the country was a mess. communism had failed. it was a poor country, and no believed that they could build free-market democracy. but they succeeded and they did so in spectacular fashion. liberals,s, centrists, conservative, all

advanced a set of successful reforms. the gdp per capita went up between 300-400% in one generation. poland was a poor country but it is not now. that is a fabulous success. it was chinese levels of growth. it was done through democracy. that was astonishing. poland in foreign policy accompanied its domestic transformation into the west, nato first and then the european union. onre prosperity depends also integration with the open thepean economy and european union has been good for poland. it provides development assistance.

successful been a story. it has been a success story of poland realizing freedoms and free-market reforms and integration with the west which was really what poland wanted ever since world war ii. it was denied that possibility by soviet conquest, and it regained the possibility in 1989 with u.s. and european support. duda called hard right? first of all i think he represents a conservative party, but i don't think he is on the hard right edge of his political movement. he is not a member of a political party formally. he is associated with the right wing law and justice party.

in poland, categories are different than in the united states. in poland, a right-wing does not just mean the regulation. it also means a higher degree of state control of the economy then we would tolerate in the united states. a lot of their biggest companies are state run. they are not government run. some of them are fairly effective and others less so. policy, of social president duda and his political allies tend to be socially conservative. the heart rate -- the hard right sometimes means political pressure on the judiciary in

poland and this has been in poland recently. that has raised some concerns, and there have been pressures put on the independent media including the independent television network. i would not call president duda hard right. i would say the movement he is part of has hard right elements, by them concerned consequences should they indulge their hard right and stings. poland has been a success, and his popularity is partly due to the fact that the economy has continued to grow without recession for a generation. let's go to edwin. good morning. my first name is edwin.

who am i talking to? with you are on the air ambassador fried. do you have a question? caller: yes. i think trump will win the white house, and i think that is a good thing. host: are there parallels between president duda and president trump? parallels can the be exaggerated by partisans in both countries. i think there may be some around , the ideological a'sment that believes dud approach is more like trump than it actually it is. i do not think the polish

government is anti-european union. earlier quoting from his speech about russian aggression, that speech could have been made by polish liberals. there is a consensus in poland that putin represents a threat to europe. i think they are right. i do not think president duda is unilateralism as trump seems to be. i do not think these parallels should be exaggerated. there is a similarity between polish and u.s. politics in this respect, president duda and president trump are more popular outside the major cities, more popular in rural areas. president duda tends to be more popular among older voters, so there are certain rough parallels. it is true that politics in both

the united states and poland is bitterly divided. emotions run high, and even where in poland liberals and conservatives agree, generally speaking policy towards russia, it is hard for them to get along. i will say in an example of , polish liberals support american troops in poland. there is a degree of bipartisanship under all of the noise. host: as you know, the president is calling for more troops in poland and taking some out of germany. this is richard from missouri. good morning. i am a -- i am of polish dissent. and we metvacation,

some people, a house builder, and i was talking to him and he best healthand the -- help he could get was the polish people to come work for him, kind of like we have the spanish come to america to help us. i guess that has helped their economy by being part of the european union, that they can trade labor, i guess. point,icking up on that what is the future of poland and its membership to the european union? is there at that that they could leave the union? guest: there is little chance that poland would leave the union. they get too much out of it. poland,ry popular in among polish farmers,

they like the union because they receive development assistance. the conservative electorate in poland does not like what they people fromronizing aboutn unit -- union social issues. polish society especially in the rural areas are deeply conservative. one of the stresses in poland has been the modernization in the big cities, which in many the westernh like cities, so there are tensions between poland and west european countries about social issues. polesms of economics,

generate like the you, and i think they're leaving is not in the cards. host: patrick, from pittsburgh, good morning. caller: i am listening to this narrative from the ambassador, but he is wrong on virtually every level. a church inr in pittsburgh, and there is major animosity against the european agnosticainst their representation against the foundation of catholicism in authoritye misuse of against the polish people. and bassett are, are you talking about the same country? everything you are conveying is not only inaccurate, it is not conveying an issue representative of the abuses of the european union with who have bureaucrats

destroyed the foundation of any spiritual construct in nations participating in their own future. guest: i did say and i do believe there are social issues, and the issues you mentioned, there is a great deal of resistance in poland to sum up what i did call kind of a patronizing thing from western europe. i did say that. at the same time, in the polish big cities, the attitudes tend to be far closer to western europe. i think polish society is a way that resembles many other countries, including the united states. polish divisions are not unique to poland. that among maintain the polish population generally,

including most people who resent lectures about social issues from the european union, there is a great deal of support for the economic benefits of european union membership. de you is not unpopular in poland. e.u. is not unpopular in poland. the question reveals some of the emotion in poland on social issues, and i think it is well worth posing, but i do not think there is contestants -- --sensus used help those opinions are strongly held on both sides of the issue and polish society. host: what is the estimated population of poland? guest: about 38 million.

you: i want to share with what the president had to say. president trump: poland is one of the few countries fulfilling their obligations under nato, andr monetary obligations, they asked if we would send additional troops. they are going to pay for that, the sending of additional troops. we will probably be moving them poland, reducing germany substantially. aboutl be moving down to 25,000. germany is paying a small fraction of what they are supposed to be paying. they are paying a low bit more than 1% depending on how you calculate. you could calculate that they are paying less than 1%, but if you assume they are paying 1%, that is a delicacy -- a

delinquency. so we will be reducing our forces in germany. some will be coming home. someone be going other places. host: that was last month. iris is next from michigan. caller: good morning. i would like to know three things. we dropped paratroopers in poland, where are they and why? secondly, what is covid-19 doing in poland? and i would just like to know why we are anywhere but right here protecting this country. host: so the present point and president's point and also asking about coronavirus. guest: the reason the u.s. has

had troops in europe since the end of world war ii is that we learned the hard way that we could not defend the united states by remaining only inside the united states. we never forgot that lesson. by defending europe, we defend the free world. that has been successful followed by republicans in democrats since harry truman. since the fall of the iron curtain, the united south -- united states sought to bring in the hundreds of europeans into the institutions of the west. president obama, after russia invaded ukraine, increased andican presence in poland sent troops to the baltic states

, not enough to fight the war on its own, but enough to deter russia from getting ideas about sudden aggression. president trump continued that and he was right to do so in my opinion. by defending europe we help ourselves. i think christie is wrong to pull troops out of germany. trump isk president wrong to pull troops out of germany. if you think moving troops to poland out of germany, it is a mixed thing, because you need the troops in germany if you are going to defend poland. coronavirus,the poland has done a reasonable job of keeping the level low. it is not shooting up, not going down as fast as many would like, but the level of outbreak has

been steady at a fairly low level. i hope it stays there. from george is next florida. good morning. i am a heart surgeon who is been going to poland since 1991. i would think i would like his comments on the extreme influence of the catholic church on poland. successes,made great but behind all of this right wing politics i think is the catholic church. i would be very interested in the comments. guest: there is a lot to say packed into that question. we probably do not have time. i will say this, pope john paul a wonderfully positive

impact on poland democracy. he provided a spiritual guidance theire worst years of early transformation after communism. , and itthat influenced needs to be celebrated. i think the catholic church in poland tends to be conservative. now ais in the big cities towards declining attendance and towards breaking with the catholic chip -- church on some traditions. but polish culture is intertwined with catholic culture.

like a lot of other countries, ireland, italy, with a deep catholic tradition, poland will have tothese issues for itself. outsiders should not tell poles what to do or think about that. poland is going through a process that many european countries have gone through poland is going through it at a much accelerated rate. host: ambassador did not afraid is a senior fellow. he has served as the u.s. ambassador to poland during the george w. bush administration. thank you for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: on our website at c-span.org, we sat down with john lewis, who passed away friday evening, in 2013. an in-depth conversation available on our website.

you can check that out at c-span.org. we are back tomorrow morning. among our guests, taking a look at congress returning for a busy couple of weeks as they take a look at additional funding on coronavirus. you can watch all of it on the c-span networks. enjoy the rest of your weekend. stay safe and have a great week ahead. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> tonight >> on q&a, the american conservative executive director and acting editor on a special edition of the magazine. >> there's a lot going on in our country right now. it is unsettling times for a

number of americans. everything having to do with the covid crisis to the lockdown to the killing of george floyd and the subsequent protests and riots in the presidential election. a lot of people are taking the opportunity to re-examine first principles and try to figure out where we stand as a nation. >> watch tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. >> here is a look at live coverage monday. on c-span, the house is back for legislative business. they will take up the national defense authorization act. on c-span2, the discussion about russia's influence in the u.k. in europe. at 1:00 p.m., a look at ways to increase voter turnout in the u.s. the senate returns to work at 3:00 considering the director of office of management and

budget. on c-span3, at 1:30, ways the pandemic has exposed outdated i.t. equipment and federal government. >> next, dr. anthony fauci, a member of the white house coronavirus task force. dr. fauci took part in a virtual discussion on the pandemic with georgetown university students. . >> good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining today's virtual event hosted by the global health initiative, the o'neill institute for national and global health law, the kalmanovitz initiative for labor and the working poor, and the institute of politics and public service at the mccourt school of public policy, which is known to many of you as gu politics.