The Netherlands: Dutch Trump Even Scares His Own Brother - by Nadette De Visser

Wilders -" not even his own brother trusts him?

A security breach is the latest controversy looming around hate-speaking Dutch Islamophobe leader Geert Wilders on the campaign trail as parliamentary elections approach March 15. Thus far, he is the leading candidate, even though other parties may unite to keep him out of the government.

Last week, the Dutch security service, DBB, who are tasked among other things with protecting Wilders, discovered a leak. A member of the DBB staff, identified only as Faris K., was suspected of passing security information to the Dutch-Moroccan criminal network known as the Mocro-Mob, which is responsible for a string of notorious liquidations. Indeed, infighting among Mocro factions has resulted in the death of over 20 men of Moroccan descent. The most notorious incident in the killing spree was the beheading of a small-time thug in March 2016, whose head was placed in the street facing an Amsterdam shisha lounge as a warning to two men who were to testify the next day.

The DBB says there is no threat. Faris K. was questioned, then released. But Wilders has canceled all campaign appearances—which may really be out of security concerns, or may be a shrewd political maneuver, or both. Publicity about the menace posed by such a sordid bunch of thugs from Muslim backgrounds could serve Wilders better than his previous campaign theme, which emphasized his connections to U.S. President Donald Trump. Wilders even stumped for Trump at the Republican convention last summer.

It is all “much ado about nothing,” according to Faris K.’s lawyer speaking on Dutch TV. “I can reassure Wilders, my client is just a big talker.” The attorney Peter Plasman said Faris K. had been bragging about his job protecting Wilders to impress two girls he fancied. “A storm in a glass of water,” the Dutch version of a tempest in a teacup, is what comes to mind with every fresh headline about the turmoil that surrounds the peroxide blonde Wilders.

But in the most recent polls Wilders appears to be losing some of his momentum. They show his party may get one to five fewer potential seats than in previous surveys and there’s widespread speculation this is because of the “the Trump effect.” Many people in the Netherlands are shocked by the performance so far of the new U.S. president.

In any case, in this the electoral home stretch, Wilders appears to want to disappear. He has not only suspended his Party for Freedom (PVV) campaign in public pending further investigation into the Faris K. affair, he has been cancelling nationally broadcast debates left and right.

The first time he did this ostensibly because there were too many political parties invited to the TV talk. The second time because RTL TV had published an interview with his brother Paul Wilders, one of Geert’s toughest critics.

When asked about the commotion, Paul Wilders told The Daily Beast: “Ah, all that to-do about a little interview with RTL was to be expected; I estimated a 50 percent chance that Geert would use it to get out of a disagreeable debate he was expected to attend.”

Paul, who is ten years older than Geert, is known for his impatience with his younger brother’s political views. “He governs his domain like an emperor, whoever contradicts him seriously is done with, family or not,” Paul says, blaming Geert’s isolation. “If you have been an emperor for so long … without a social life, then you start living accordingly. It is a sad thing to see happen. I wish him better than that.”

Read more: Dutch Trump Even Scares His Own Brother - The Daily Beast