What’s going on with Trump and the Netherlands this week…
Remember when people said ‘let’s judge the new president by his deeds’. Well that was only 2 weeks ago and ‘his deeds’ have all thoroughly smacked us so hard in the face that the only way you could not feel it was because you’re a Trump supporter with a big old plate in front of your face (fun fact: the Dutch saying is ‘bord voor je kop’).
Normally it’s a good thing for the Netherlands when an orange person is dominating the international headlines, this time no so much. Anyways, enough liberal tears from me about the loss of such ‘leftists’ hobbies as basic human rights, let’s have a looksie at Trump and the Netherlands for this week.
This was last week, when we could still have a laugh about things:
Dutch say ‘No’ to US controls at Schiphol
Last year the Dutch and US government started talks about the US border and customs setting up control at Schiphol airport for US flights. This way you wouldn’t have to wait ages anymore for your passport and persona to be checked when entering the US. At least that was the idea, because talks have now been halted – Foreign Affairs minister Koenders cited the #Muslimban as the reason for halting it (obviously he said it in a far less ballsy way).
Debates and protests in the Netherlands
So the Netherlands had a parliamentarian debate on the whole thing yesterday, which mainly involved all parties (besides Wilders) trying to pressure PM Rutte into saying something which shows some strength and dignity. Oh and if you’re wondering, Wilders is backing Trump all the way.
And then there are numerous protests in the Netherlands as well. And people actually show up at these, which is not so normal for this country the last decades. There’s one this afternoon at The Hague’s Malieveld by ‘Holland against Hate’ here’s the Facebook-event, a bunch of DutchReviewers are going to attend – you might as well if your nearby.
One cannot see the debates and protests against Trump and not notice their relation with the upcoming Dutch elections on the 15th of March. The narrative is clear, if you want a Trump-like regime for the Netherlands than go vote for Wilders.
Are you taking a side DutchReview?
While my sympathies are fairly clear by now, it’s also important to point out that DutchReview is an open platform and open to all opinions. So if you want a platform to write intelligent and humorous rants against Wilders and Trump, be our guest.
But if you want to do a piece on why globalization might not be a good thing for all economies and why the Dutch should do more with defense and NATO (Trump stuff decent folks might not find totally loony) and you can write that up in a funny and clever way – well than DutchReview might also have a spot for you.
You might catch some nasty comments though, but life is only worthwhile when your getting bitchy replies on the internet….