Pieter Omtzigt has caused quite a bit of disappointment with Xander van der Wulp, political reporter for the NOS Journaal. “He lets crazy things happen online and doesn’t say anything about it.”
Xander van der Wulp is disappointed in the popular Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt. The politician recently posted a photo of the Hofvijver on Twitter with the text: ‘Evening walk in The Hague. There is light everywhere, except in one place’, pointing to Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Torentje. “There is a Euro Summit going on in Brussels,” Xander wrote underneath.
Xander disappointed
That comment has given Xander a lot of mud, according to his own words. “He suggested that Rutte was not at work. Because what else did he mean? Just an observation that there is no light on in a certain place? That is why I responded by saying that there was a Euro Summit in Brussels, a statement of fact.”
He continues in the Volkskrant: “I had Omtzigt supporters following me online for days, in a nasty way – and Omtzigt must have seen that in his timeline, but he didn’t say anything about it.”
‘It surprises me’
Xander had not expected that from someone like Pieter Omtzigt. “It surprises me that even politicians I hold in high esteem allow crazy things to happen online. This is an innocent example, but still I don’t understand it. There was no explanation from Omtzigt about what he meant.”
According to him, a more serious example is the ‘Sewer rats unmasked’ film in which SBS 6 star Merel Ek was ridiculed by the Forum for Democracy. “She really suffered from that. Then something snapped in me. It is purely malicious to provoke threats and hate reactions in this way.”
Tweet
The tweet Xander is talking about: