Rutger Castricum does not get laughs when he makes yet another lame joke about the appearance of Minister Marjolein Faber in Hélène Hendriks’ talk show. “So easy.”
The number of asylum applications has fallen for the first time in four years, according to a report by the Ministry of Asylum and Migration, which is currently led by the much-derided PVV minister Marjolein Faber. Very good news, says Geert Wilders, the leader of that party. He calls out to X: “The FABER effect! 💪”
‘Very lame!’
But can Faber claim that success? No, says Rutger Castricum. “It is because of those signs she wanted to put up that we are working on a return, I think,” he says cynically in The Orange Winter.
Hostess Hélène Hendriks: “No, you immediately act so lame. Why now? She’s doing well, right?”
Rutger: “Yes, but the same article also states that it has nothing to do with the policy that has now been pursued and Wilders then writes in the first sentence he sends out: ‘The Faber effect’. I find that slightly tiring.”
Terrifying
If Minister Faber himself stands at the border like a scarecrow, that will help, Rutger jokes. “It could be a deterrent effect if there really was a deterrent effect, for example if she were really standing at the border in person. Then it could have a deterrent effect.”
Hélène surprised: “What is this!”
Fellow guest Jack van Gelder is pissed off: “I find it so easy to always judge that woman by her appearance. I really mean that.”
‘What with then?’
Rutger thinks that Minister Faber simply does not credits deserves for the decline in the asylum influx. “It has nothing to do with her policies.”
Story boss Guido den Aantrekker, who is sitting next to him at the table: “But what about Rutger?”
Rutger: “Ehh, ehhh, ehhh…”
Change
Guido thinks Rutger is lame. “It is of course easy to pull it away from her, but who caused it?”
Rutger: “If you read the entire article, there is a decline happening throughout Europe, so it is not just in the Netherlands.”
Anyway: the PVV wind that is blowing is fine, Jack thinks. “We don’t have to point specifically to Faber, but I think it is a good turnaround that something is changing.”