Anti-Islamification campaigner and leader of the largest Dutch political party Geert Wilders met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit, where the men discussed the danger of mass migration.
Geert Wilders, who collapsed the Dutch government earlier this month by withdrawing the support of his party over the other partners dragging their heels on controlling mass migration, met President Donald Trump on the side-lines of the NATO summit on Wednesday. Mr Wilders, who leads the country’s largest political party and who polling puts in first place for the upcoming national elections is an occasional Breitbart News contributor and has lived under 24-hour police guard for over 20 years because of the persistent threat to his life by Islamists.
He told Breitbart News of the meeting: “It was an honour to meet the President. I was very impressed by his knowledge of the political situation in Europe and [The Netherlands]. He sees mass immigration as a huge danger and encouraged us to defend the identity of our nation”.
In other comments, Mr Wilders hailed an “excellent meeting” which had included “discussion about the need for tougher immigration laws”.
Later asked about the meeting by a journalist, President Trump refused to be drawn into criticising Mr Wilders’ anti-Islamification policies and noted of the Dutchman: “He’s unhappy with the way things are going in this country”.
While this was the first meeting of the two men, The Trump White House has previously offered tacit support for Mr Wilders, saluting his fighting to preserve the national identity of the Netherlands earlier this month. A White House statement made as the Dutch government collapsed, triggering fresh elections, said:
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.
This week’s NATO alliance meeting was hosted in The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government, which is presently in the charge of a caretaker administration pending fresh national elections. Geert Wilders’ Party For Freedom had come first in the last elections but without enough seats to govern alone, was forced into an unstable coalition. As part of the negotiations with those other parties, the unprecedented decision to exclude Mr Wilders from becoming Prime Minister, instead leaving him as a kingmaker in the shadows, was reached.
This unusual move for the leader of the largest party in parliament and in government to not be Prime Minister was blamed as a contributing factor to the failure of the government earlier this month, with issues brought to a head over the other parties dragging their heels over the Freedom party’s headline migration control policies.
The snap elections are set for October 29th.
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