Guest post by Barry Ramey
WARSAW — “Even for us Poles, this is unimaginable.”
That is how TV Republika journalist Elżbieta “Ela” Beszłej described the night riot police descended on Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, a judge the president never swore in declared herself the court’s new boss, and President Karol Nawrocki turned his plane around mid-air to rush home. Beszłej, who was outside the Tribunal that night, joined The Gateway Pundit for a live interview to explain what she called a constitutional crisis “as absurd as it sounds.”
What Happened Friday Night
On Friday, October 30, after the judges had gone home, police moved onto the Tribunal’s grounds at the request of Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska — one of the judges chosen by Donald Tusk’s parliamentary majority, who took her oath in the Sejm rather than before the president, as Polish law requires. Around 6:00 p.m., the Tribunal’s website announced that its president and vice president had been suspended and that Korwin-Piotrowska was in charge. The Tribunal’s own X account called it a “coup d’état.”
“She has no legal grounds to do it,” Beszłej said. “It’s kind of like you or I would say that now I’m going to go into the Supreme Court and say I’m the Supreme Court president now.”
She said “hundreds of policemen” came in through the gate facing the prime minister’s office — masked, armed and “geared up for trouble” — while German media claimed they were there to protect the court from protesters, “which is all the other way around.” Police say their officers stayed outside the building.
The crowd stayed calm, she said, determined not to give the government an excuse. As for the officers: “I saw their eyes, and they looked scared. They looked like they had no idea what’s going on.” Sources told Republika some believed they had been sent to protect the Tribunal, not take it over.
Tusk: “Restoring the Rule of Law”
Tusk was unapologetic. “After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action,” he wrote on X. He has openly embraced “militant democracy” — restoring the rule of law by force.
“That’s not the way to restore the rule of law,” Beszłej said. “It’s not a democracy then. It can be a dictatorship, but not a democracy.”
She also called out Brussels’ double standard. For eight years under Law and Justice, the EU accused Poland of violating the rule of law. “And as Prime Minister Donald Tusk got into power, suddenly it was all okay.” Ursula von der Leyen has stayed silent, she said, while a Commission spokesman suggested parliament gets to choose the judges.
Why Tusk Needs the Tribunal
Tusk’s coalition controls both houses of parliament, but President Nawrocki — elected with more than 10 million votes — can veto its bills or send them to the Tribunal for review. Without the votes to override him, the government is stuck. “They want to bypass the president, who has the public mandate,” Beszłej said.
And who swore in the judges the president refused to accept? The Speaker of the Sejm — a former Communist Party member. “We have communists taking over — literally,” she said.
He’s Done This Before
Poles have seen this playbook. In December 2023, days after taking office, Tusk’s government seized public television, radio and the national press agency overnight, bypassing the council meant to oversee them. The TVP Info news signal was cut and police surrounded the buildings.
“They like to do stuff with the police escorts, usually when no one is expecting them,” Beszłej said. “…By force they removed some of the people. The rest they fired.” When the courts and President Andrzej Duda pushed back, the government put the broadcaster into “liquidation.”
It is a playbook straight out of 1917. Lenin’s Bolsheviks seized the telegraph offices and printing presses first; weeks later, armed guards shut down the elected Constituent Assembly they couldn’t control. Seize the media in the dead of night. Then send men with guns to lock the doors of a constitutional body. Poland has now seen both.
The President Turns His Plane Around
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Nawrocki was flying to Senegal when he heard. He turned back. “At such a moment, the President must be in Poland,” he wrote on X.
“Who does that?” Beszłej said. “You can watch it in superhero movies.”
He went straight to the Tribunal, pushing through the police cordon to cheers. Inside, she said, Korwin-Piotrowska tried to push him back out the door. “He is a boxer. Come on,” she laughed. “He got through, all the while saying, ‘Excuse me, excuse me.’” He then summoned every party leader to the presidential palace. All came except Tusk’s Civic Coalition.
“Tusk Shot Himself in the Foot”
The move may be backfiring. Young Poles who had tuned out politics are now showing up outside the Tribunal, and Poland’s feuding conservative leaders stood there together. Even lawyers and judges who have sided with the government are voicing “serious legal doubts.”
“Donald Tusk, as we say in Polish, has shot himself in the foot with this move,” Beszłej said.
Republika in the Crosshairs
Beszłej was careful with viral rumors that some officers were German, saying Republika won’t report it unless it’s confirmed — a false story would let the government brand them liars. Her network already faces advertising boycotts and legal cases against its reporters and executives. “They’re looking for anything to shut us down,” she said. “But we’re not giving up.”
“We Do Need Your Support”
Her message to Americans: “You have to know how resilient we are — that we will not give up. But we do need your support.”
“I hope that we make a sound about what’s happening,” she said, “and that this will prevent Donald Tusk from going further — and hold back all these EU bureaucrats that are trying to take over what is most important for us Poles … which is our freedom.”
Watch the full interview: https://youtu.be/vpJuLGq-2pY
Follow TV Republika on X and YouTube for live coverage from Poland, including English-language reports. Ela Beszłej also appears in War Boy Studios’ upcoming documentary on Poland.
Follow TV Republika on YouTube: @Telewizja_Republika
Follow Ela Beszłej on X: @elaaab
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