Jesse Klaver, the leader of the PvdA-GroenLinks party, appears to be playing a kind of TV Canteen together with his colleagues. “Including black boots to imitate Caroline van der Plas!”
Preparations for all TV debates are in full swing among the political leaders in The Hague. How does that work behind the scenes? NPO 1 star Rick Nieman gave a glimpse of the veil yesterday WNL on Sunday, in which Jesse Klaver was a guest, among others. The presenter causes discomfort for the left-wing faction leader with a spicy revelation.
Black boots
Rick reveals that behind the scenes at GroenLinks-PvdA they play a political role-play in an almost absurdist way. “Now we understand that those debates are practiced, right? And we heard that Attje Kuiken plays Caroline van der Plas for you and she puts on her black boots especially to play Caroline. Isn’t this detail correct?”
Jesse’s look reveals everything, but he remains silent at first. After that there is no confirmation, but also no denial. Rick continues: “And you played Pieter Omtzigt.”
‘Uhh…’
Jesse reacts uncomfortably. “Uhh, yea…”
Rick: “Yes.”
Jesse: “Ehh, ehh, look, my role now in the campaign is to prepare all the content.”
Rick: “You played Pieter Omtzigt.”
Jesse: “When it comes to debate preparations and just that… I know Pieter very well and I have also studied his program very deeply.”
‘Well no’
Rick challenges Jesse to do an Omtzigt imitation. “So we like that. What does a Pieter Omtzigt look like?”
Jesse chats around it: “Well, no, what it is mainly. I have been working with him for a long time, so I mainly look at: what content does he have? His election manifesto has not made it much easier, what exactly does he want and what choices does he make? Not specific enough yet. (…) I do that for all kinds of programs.”
Only content? According to Rick, this is simply Koefnoen in The Hague! He shouts: “Ah, come on! You also play a bit… It’s also about personalities, emotions and how you react to each other.”
“Ah, come on!”
Another studio guest senses exactly where Rick wants to go: “You want him to do it?”
Rick: “I actually want to see an Omtzigt, would that be possible?”
Jesse: “I can’t make it more interesting than this. My task, both for Omtzigt and other parties, is mainly: what content do these parties come up with? What promises do they make? That is what I do and I do it for various programs, including Pieter Omtzigt’s.”
Yawn.