Former Polish president Andrzej Duda has joined the conservative U.S. Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow.

The move highlights the burgeoning ties between the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and the European nationalist right.

The Washington-based think tank said Monday that Duda would work on “transatlantic security, European defense readiness, democratic resilience, and policy recommendations for the future of conservative leadership in Europe.”

Heritage praised Duda for strengthening Poland’s military posture and boosting its defense spending during his two terms in office between 2015 and 2025, portraying him as a model of sovereignty-focused leadership at a time of “heightened geopolitical risk.”

“President Duda governed with a clear-eyed understanding of what nations owe their people: secure borders, public safety, and the courage to stand up to self-appointed global elites. We are pleased to welcome him to Heritage at a moment when the future of the West depends on nations that still remember who they serve,” Heritage’s Kevin Roberts said in a statement.

Heritage is an influential conservative think thank in the U.S. that has become closely associated with the MAGA movement around President Donald Trump, promoting hard-right-wing views on borders, national sovereignty and culture war issues. It authored the controversial Project 2025 roadmap for the second Trump presidency.

As president, Duda openly courted Trump, including by proposing a permanent U.S. military base in Poland dubbed “Fort Trump.”

In a statement for Heritage, Duda said he was “honored” to join the think tank: “I look forward to contributing that experience to Heritage’s long-standing work advancing conservative policy solutions for Europe.”

Duda’s political camp, the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, is enthusiastic about Trump and MAGA politics. PiS officials have long echoed Trump’s political rhetoric, voiced support for his “Board of Peace,” and praised his administration’s hugely controversial crackdown on immigrants.

PiS lawmakers chanted “Donald Trump!” in the Polish parliament after Trump secured his second term in office in late 2024. 

Trump, for his part, endorsed Duda’s successor, Karol Nawrocki, to be president of Poland in 2025. Nawrocki’s victory has blocked the incumbent pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk from effectively implementing its agenda.

Trump’s chaotic brand of diplomacy has rankled several far-right parties in Europe, but it has not diminished Nawrocki and PiS’s enthusiasm for him, at least publicly. After Trump belittled the role of Washington’s NATO allies in Afghanistan, provoking anger from numerous European leaders including Tusk, Nawrocki responded only with non-specific praise for Polish soldiers there without referring to Trump directly.