The Weekly Forum - 4 September

There is something intensely political about Americans. They identify more deeply with their political structures than any European people does. They refer constantly to the Founding Fathers, to the various articles and amendments of the US constitution, to the powers of the states. Maybe the ancient Athenians were like that too. The youth wing of FVD recently welcomed to Amsterdam a three-man delegation from the New York Young Republicans Club: they were interviewed by Iem al Biyati, Frederik Jansen and Massimo Ettale for the ‘Feverdream Café’. What shone through from the three besuited young men was a very Trumpian determination to make once-in-a-generation radical changes to the US political system. They did thzis with a striking knowledge of recent American history including, surprisingly, severe criticisms of supposedly conservative luminaries like Ronald Reagan.  Their verve and lucidity recalled the same qualities which Thierry Baudet, John Laughland and Frederik Jansen had noticed on their recent trip to Washington DC, where there is a palpable energy and drive of which Europe, for the time being, can only dream.

Watch the Feverdream Café interview here

So let’s dream!  Verve and drive are the very things FVD is determined to insert into Dutch and European political life. This shines through every line in the party manifesto, published on 31 August.  Cutting taxes, promoting remigration, leaving the EU, stopping the war in Ukraine, putting an end to climate madness, affordable housing, referenda, cutting red tape, economic dynamism – you name it, it’s in the party programme. Frankly, every party should adopt it – and the Trumpian experience shows that these things can be done, if there is a will. Determination is FVD’s guiding principle – the determination not just to change politics but to change the whole of society for the better too.

Read a summary of the FVD manifesto here

The electoral list for the Dutch parliamentary elections to be held on 29 October will not be led by Thierry Baudet, the founder and leader of the party, but instead by Lidewij de Vos, a 28 year-old neuroscientist and violinist who embodies the youth and high IQ which are FVD’s strengths. Her appointment shows that the party is bigger than its leader - something one can say of very few other parties in Europe - and that FVD is the future, having an especially high degree of support among Gen Z. Exhilarated by the decision, Thierry and Lidewij both made statements when it was announced:  read them below.

Read about Lidewij here