Merel Ek is attacked hard by Sywert van Lienden. The mouth mask crook thinks that the star reporter of Hart van Nederland asks ‘absurd’ questions to the prime minister.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte was questioned quite vigorously at his weekly press conference on Friday by Merel Ek, reporter for Hart van Nederland and regular guest of Today Inside. “Mr Rutte, do you feel responsible for the trust in politics in the Netherlands?” was her main question.
Not a serious question
The fragment of it goes viral on social media, because Rutte reacts somewhat irritated: “Those kinds of general questions go to a question you want to ask… Just ask your question, because these are open doors… Yes, of course I feel responsible for trust in politics in the Netherlands. Isn’t that logical?”
Rutte thinks that Merel should do her best as a journalist. “Let’s have a serious press conference on a Friday afternoon like that. I don’t think it’s a serious question.”
‘Madam…’
Merel stands firm. “You don’t think it’s a serious question?”
Ruth: “No. Can’t I just say yes to that? Wouldn’t it be idiotic if you said no to that?”
Merel: “Well, I don’t know.”
Rutte: “Well, it doesn’t matter. Tell.”
Merel: “Do you think that you are one of the reasons that confidence in the Netherlands is so low in politics?”
Rutte a little later: “Madam, I won the elections in 2021, so wouldn’t it be strange that the VVD would get 34 seats if I was so mistrusted?”
‘Recognize it’
It produces mixed reactions: one thinks it is indeed a bad question from Merel, the other thinks it’s good that she is so critical of him.
Marcel van Roosmalen has expressed his understanding for Rutte in Marcel & Gijs. “I also recognize it a bit. You’re at the end of the week and then you get one of those obligatory questions. What is such a man to do with it? You are all a bit grumpy sometimes.”
Colleague Gijs Groenteman: “I don’t know Mark Rutte like that at all. Isn’t he always cheerfulness itself? Inwardly he seems to be terrible, but outwardly he is always so nice.”
Attack of Sywert
Table guest Henk Westbroek also has some understanding for Rutte. “Look, that man has had 95 of those fuck-up proposals on his body, so at some point everything becomes too much for you.”
Mouth cap rascal Sywert van Lienden, however, attacks Merel hard. He tweets: “In this case, such a fragment mainly shows that the journalist in question herself contributes to the distrust in politics. Absurd way of interviewing by SBS. Excellent answers from Rutte.”
Fragment
The fragment: