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When the first and, as it turned out, last cabinet of PvdA member Joop den Uyl fell in March 1977, Juliana was still queen, a vase cost between two and three guilder quarters and Markje Rutte had coldly celebrated his tenth birthday a month earlier . For a man who cannot even recall what he was served for lunch yesterday, it is unlikely that the VVD leader still has active memories of Den Uyl’s heyday. The “We in the Netherlands should not go back to the days of Joop den Uyl”, Saturday at The T. is therefore ridiculous.
Moreover, Rutte seems to be the voter for Malle Pietje (this is a Swibertjereference, children’s series at the time of Den Uyl) with the fear image he paints of the social democrats in the newspaper. The only Rutte cabinet that has fully sat through the ride was that with the PvdA with which the prime minister worked closely. And in his current cabinet, Rutte is already working with PvdA and GroenLinks to support government policy in the Senate, where the coalition does not and will not get a majority.
It is no surprise that Rutte in the Telegraaf excludes the PVV from any cooperation whatsoever, but he also disavows the emerging newcomers BBB and JA21. A can on the polls learns that the VVD and the brand new PvdA-GroenLinks bloc go hand in hand, so Rutte and his campaign advisers play it safe: first ensure that the VVD becomes the largest.
The fact that the champagne was uncorked on Saturday at the PvdA-GroenLinks kongsi – the red-greens will also benefit from the very simple enemy image evoked by Rutte – Rutte accepts. Because part of the BBB and JA21 voters (and CDA members insofar as they are still there, Hugo de Jonge is already doing it in the pants) will want to play it safe and therefore still give the vote to the VVD.
And at the end of the ride – Tuesday 30 May, day of the Senate elections – Rutte still turns left. Because Rubber Rutte has now proven that it prefers to go port, given its intensive cooperation with PvdA, GroenLinks and D66.
That left cloud is not the problem, Rutte’s fog bank is more dangerous. Better that the voter navigates around it.
