Geert Wilders was the loser during the entire TV evening yesterday. He was declared extinguished on almost every current TV program. “It seems like at times the energy seems to have gone a bit.”
After the collapse of the right-wing cabinet, Geert Wilders is much lower in the polls than two years ago. The PVV leader is also not as visible in this election campaign as before. “He gave me the impression of being exhausted, with an almost empty battery. Walking on his last legs,” says interpreter Ahmed Aboutaleb in RTL Tonight.
Extinguished
Wilders hardly campaigns, according to Ahmed. “He has only been to a few places in the Netherlands and when he talks, he is not as fierce as I have always known him and with quite a few reservations. He also no longer uses the top tone, and also lets others talk where this did not happen in the past.”
He continues: “Yes, I’ll give you something to do. He does it on his own and has no support at all. Agema has disappeared, an important source of support, so he is the only one that stands out to me, but in a negative way.”
On the defensive
Host Beau van Erven Dorens thinks it is a tough judgement. “It’s quite something, what you say: he’s exhausted, he’s doing it all alone, he’s having a hard time.”
Political reporter Frits Wester: “He has to play a very different role in this campaign than in previous campaigns. Where he could previously go fully on the attack, he now always has to be on the defensive.”
Fellow reporter Floor Doppen: “His story is more difficult to sell. He tasted power, he was the center of power and he did not live up to that.”
Very heavy
Aboutaleb points out that the PVV is ultimately only one man. “It is very difficult if you do not have a device to back you up. At this stage he could have let Coenradie do the second part of the campaign, but he is gone, right? When you run such a campaign, it is also important that you have a solid home front.”
He does not just mean Wilders’ wife. “Not only at home where you live, but also a home front in politics home are when you are in your headquarters.”
Twenty years
Telegraaf journalist Wouter de Winther is also critical. “I don’t think his last performances are the strongest I have seen in the past twenty years. It seems as if his energy seems to have gone a bit at some moments. He has also canceled some moments, such as an interview with De Telegraaf,” he says in Eva.
He continues: “You notice in his performances that although he still uses the same rhetoric, there are also moments when he visibly finds it annoying that people confront him with the past two years, which have been quite a mess.”
A bit tired
Jeroen Pauw also talks about it in his talk show Pauw & De Wit. “Fleur, what’s going on with the leader? What’s going on with Geert Wilders? It seems like he’s a bit tired, he’s not feeling very well in the match.”
PVV prominent Fleur Agema then: “Excuse me? I find that very revealing. I think he is just very stable and calm. I think he is very good.”
Jeroen laughing: “Yes, well, that’s what I mean: when is he stable and calm?”
Very good
Fleur does not recognize that. “Well, it’s time for Geert Wilders to become Prime Minister! I think that’s what he radiates, that he doesn’t get so worked up by everyone. I thought he was very good at SBS and Today Inside.”
Political reporter Elodie Verwij saw Wilders at the Debate of the South. “He usually runs away immediately after the debates, he did that during the SBS debate, and now we got the chance to talk to him for a moment. What we saw is as if he didn’t feel like it anymore.”
‘Really nonsense!’
Fleur comes to the rescue for Wilders. “That is really nonsense. It is only negative about Geert Wilders at every talk show table and in every program. If he is too fierce, it is not good, and if he is mild, neither is it.”
Elodie: “I saw in his eyes: he no longer feels it, he is no longer interested in winning. It seemed as if he had given up.”
Finally, Fleur: “I really think it’s a nonsense story and I think it’s a real shame. Actually, you can tell that story about anyone. They all have the circles hanging on their knees.”