A few days before the Polish presidential election on Sunday, a Polish friend of mine received an unexpected message from someone she had not seen for 20 years. The woman had found my friend on Facebook, noticed that she was supporting the candidacy of Rafał Trzaskowski—the mayor of Warsaw, a liberal centrist—and begged her to change her mind. She asked her to vote instead for Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist historian, former boxer, and veteran of street fights that he describes as “noble battles.” She sent my friend a copy of an anonymous appeal that has shown up elsewhere on social media but seems to have been one of many similar warnings spread widely by email. It began like this:

Before you put your ballot in the ballot box, call up your memories. Open your eyes, clear your mind, reach

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