A recent interview with Thierry Baudet has caused a stir on Twitter. For several days now, the trending topic #Baudet has been going around. In the English-language interview, he does not mince his words when talking about the war in Ukraine. In it, he flatly states that he is taking the side of the Russians.
“Now Russia is fighting back. I am very happy with this fight, because finally there is a front. There is now a front against the globalists. I hope Russia wins. I think it is great that there is someone like Putin,” he says around minute 15 in the interview posted on Forum for Democracy’s YouTube channel. “It is one of the most hopeful things in today’s world.”
“Why?”, the interviewer wanted to know. “He is fighting the globalists,” Baudet explained. “He is basically fighting the French Revolution.” He also told the New Zealand interviewer what his hopes were for the break-up of Western powers. “The best thing would be for NATO to break up, like the EU and the United States,” he indicated.
According to some Twitter users, it is abundantly clear: Thierry Baudet is being paid by or is receiving some kind of support from Russia. But this has never been proven. According to Baudet himself, who has also once been asked whether he has links with the Russians, it is total nonsense. “Absolutely not,” he commented.
Some Twitter users were not surprised by Baudet’s words. “Let’s not forget that these attacks on civilian targets in Kiev are also among ‘the most hopeful’ Baudet has ever witnessed,” someone wrote cynically, referring to the recent rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
Support for Baudet: ‘He is not a traitor to the country’
The pro-war globalist Anne Applebaum tore into Baudet on social media: “And here is Baudet, hoping Putin will murder more people and cause more pain and hardship – perhaps hoping someday he can be a quisling or collaborator in an occupied Netherlands too.”
But not everyone shares the views of a few loud critics. In the comments on the YouTube video, hundreds of compliments for the Forum for Democracy party leader were noted. “Refreshing”, “interesting” and “great interview”. With words of praise, viewers have welcomed the message.
On Twitter, too, there is astonishment that Baudet is a trending topic in Dutch. “If anyone cares about our country and the people it is Thierry Baudet,” one Dutch user said. “You don’t have to agree with him, but he is certainly not a traitor.”