It was Christmas 2009, when the Massachusetts Democrat party filled with hubris and complacency scoffed at the idea that the seat of Ted Kennedy would ever be challenged by Republicans. However, a group of patriots worked tirelessly and quietly throughout the holiday season to change the dynamic. No one saw it coming, Scott Brown won.
In 2023 another group in the Netherlands took the same quiet and deliberate approach. Again, no one saw it coming but Geert Wilders is now on track to be the next prime minister.
The Party for Freedom (PVV) won 37 seats in Parliament and now stand as the largest political force in the country.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders said Thursday that he is ready to join the next Dutch coalition government after he surged to a huge election victory that marked a stunning lurch to the far right for a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance.
The result is sending shockwaves through Europe, where extremist nationalist ideology is putting pressure on democracies that now face the possibility of having to deal with the first far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.
“It is going to happen that the PVV is in the next Cabinet,” Wilders said, using the Dutch abbreviation for his Party for Freedom.
With nearly all votes counted, Wilders’ party was forecast to win 37 seats in the 150-seat lower house of parliament, more than double the 17 the party secured in the last election.
[…] Wilders’ election program included calls for a referendum on the Netherlands leaving the European Union, a total halt to accepting asylum-seekers and migrant pushbacks at Dutch borders.
It also advocates the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands. He says he wants no mosques or Islamic schools in the country, although he has been milder about Islam during this election campaign than in the past.
[…] In his victory speech, Wilders said he wants to end what he called the “asylum tsunami,” referring to the migration issue that came to dominate his campaign. “The Dutch will be No. 1 again,” Wilders said. “The people must get their nation back.” (read more)
[Friday is my travel day. I will see y’all on Saturday 
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