You really have to do something to be expelled from the VVD faction. It happened to Wybren van Haga, something about slum milking. As leader of his own party, Interest for the Netherlands BVNL, all brakes are loose during this election campaign. He craves popular favor with often flat populist views, but at the same time anyone with more than two brain cells also feels that he has no connection with ordinary people at all. Yes, to sell them a product.
He surrounds himself with populists who have been discarded elsewhere, uses populist language, and it is not surprising to think that he will also be a populist. The low point was his appearance on stage on the Malieveld at that now infamous and out of hand ‘Els-right’ demonstration, where he warmly greeted the scum who came to fight as ‘protectors’.
In News hour I saw him hunting for voters in a city center. No one moved to hug, hug or even recognize him, but it didn’t stop him from chasing people until they had a flyer in their shopping bag. It is of course allowed, but the why questions keep piling up.
Does he really think enough people will vote for him?
Is no one around him honest with him when he comes home enthusiastic after a day of overheated campaigning?
What does this say about his antennae, where he says he senses exactly what is going on?
To start with the latter: all he smells is the perfumed scent of his inflated ego. It is almost impossible to understand what inspires the others on his list. The statement that it would be in the interests of the Netherlands if these people were not elected seems more than defensible to me. In a program like Expedition Robinson they would have been on waste island together for a long time, where they would have to thin each other out until there was only one left.
Democracy is beautifully imagined, but never intended as an event where idiots promote themselves and each other. The shop window is too big and there are too many lights. And of course: it’s just Wybren van Haga, but let’s never forget that the village idiot Wybren van Haga once passed the ballot of the VVD. If you look closely, you will find one or more Wybren van Haga’s at almost every game. And worse. If democracy is a party, then it is a family party to which your crazy second cousin is also invited. Keep it away from your barbecue and sound system.
Marcel van Roosmalen writes a column on Mondays and Thursdays.
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