Dutch anti-mass migration politician Geert Wilders thanked President Donald Trump for his support as the Netherlands heads towards a snap election after the government collapsed over border and asylum policy.
The Trump White House offered tacit support to Geert Wilders, the pro-border control and anti-Islamification politician who was until this week the power behind the Dutch government, on Thursday evening as it became clear the country was heading into snap elections.
The Agence France Presse, citing an anonymous Trump White House Official, said in response to Mr Wilders collapsing the Dutch government coalition that he de facto led, that President Trump has been clear on supporting European allies that work to protect sovereignty and national identity.
They are reported to have told the AFP: “The Netherlands, like many countries in Europe, is facing serious threats related to open borders policies and illegal migration.
“Leaders who fight to put their citizens first and secure their nation’s future should be commended… European leaders should work to protect their sovereignty and national identity by prioritizing strong borders and tackling illegal migration — just as we are here in the United States”.
Responding to this vote of confidence from President Trump, Mr Wilders wrote overnight: “Thank you [President Trump]… We will win the Dutch elections again and Make The Netherlands Great Again!”.
Such an endorsement is no trivial matter as voters around the Western world fraction into pro- and anti-Trump camps. On one hand, President Trump was blamed rightly or wrongly for the outcome of this year’s Canadian elections. On the other, just this week the Polish conservatives enjoyed a massive upset win in their presidential elections, overturning a 20-point lead for the globalist opposition with a candidate openly backed by President Trump.
Mr Wilders, who has lived under 24-hour police guard for over 20 years because of the persistent threat to his life by Islamists leads the Party for Freedom (PVV), which spectacularly withdrew from the government this week, causing it to collapse. Wilders had earlier warned the other three parties in the coalition not to block the border control agenda he’d been elected to deliver, saying he would kill the government if they tried.
A week later, the warning having evidently been ignored, Wilders withdrew the support of the PVV and its ministers, leaving the government in a minority and the country heading to an early snap election, probably in the Autumn.
Under normal circumstances Mr Wilders would have been the Dutch Prime Minister, officially leading the government. But while the other coalition partners were content to go into government with Wilders’ PVV as the largest party, they could not stomach being led by a right-wing populist, so insisted on an awkward arrangement where the official Prime Minister and head of government was a civil servant technocrat.
As noted by Dutch publication De Telegraaf, President Trump is due to be in the Netherlands before the forthcoming snap election, potentially offering an opportunity for him to show in-person support.
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