| forest-spirit said: So Wilders was beaten, that's good news.  |
Indeed that is good news imho. However, his number of seats has increased, so his brand of angry populistic rhetoric has still grown in popularity, and that's still something to worry about.
But to put his growing popularity into perspective, he still only won 13% of votes and that's not nearly enough to get him anywhere near governing The Netherlands. No political party wants to form a coalition with him anymore, he has time and again proven unable to cooperate. Even the structure and history of his PVV clearly reflects that. He's an angry name-calling scaremonger who does not accept any criticism; it's his way or the high way.
Even if he would've became the biggest party, there's just no way he can partake in any coalition and any coalition is going to be bigger than him alone. This man can only function in an opposition role in the foreseeable future.
WIth all that said, you've got to give it to him: He's a smart and effective debater. He knows how to appeal to people with genuine worries. But I firmly believe he doesn't have any answer that won't be counterproductive. Fortunately the large majority of The Netherlands still agrees with me.
