The Teflon Populism of Poland’s Ruling Party

Examples are legion. When Der Spiegel reported that the far-right Alternative for Deutschland had misappropriated funds, the party's supporters could not have cared less.

When the same publication unearthed a video of Austria's now-former vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, negotiating a quid pro quo with a Russian interlocutor, his far-right Freedom Party lost only a couple of percentage points in the polls, and probably only temporarily.

Likewise, the parties of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban continue to dominate their countries' politics, despite repeated corruption scandals.

But the most scandal-proof populist of all is Poland's de facto ruler, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Independent Polish media outlets have revealed new affairs involving Kaczynski and his Law and Justice (PiS) party practically on a weekly basis - all of them damning. 

For example, Kaczynski was recently caught on tape arranging for the payment of a bribe to the partner of an Austrian businessman involved in the construction of a skyscraper project tellingly named K-Towers.

And just before the European Parliament election in May, Poland was shaken by a documentary exposing paedophilia by Catholic priests, along with a massive coverup by the Church hierarchy, which has close ties to the PiS. Nonetheless, the PiS government has refused to form a lay commission to investigate the matter.

Also in May, Polish journalists discovered that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki purchased land from the Church that has increased in value a hundredfold as a result of a planned road project, but which he has avoided disclosing by using a transmutation agreement with his wife.

Citing a former colleague of Morawiecki,...