CAUTIONARY TALE

‘The Daily Show’ Takes Down Dutch Trump: ‘What Is It with These Villains and Their Hair?’

Host Trevor Noah weighed in on far-right candidate Geert Wilders’ crippling defeat in the Dutch election, and the ‘Trump effect.’

Donald Trump’s chaotic first few months in office have sent a clear signal to the rest of the world: Don’t make the same mistake we did.

This week, far-right candidate Geert Wilders, a populist candidate who’s been labeled the Dutch Trump due to his ferocious Islamophobia—including a desire to ban the Quran, close all mosques, institute a Muslim immigration ban, and generally combat the “Islamization” of Europe—suffered a crippling defeat to the more liberal Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Some believed Wilders would defeat Rutte and thus become the opening salvo in a nationalist movement across Europe. But it was not to be.

On Thursday night, The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah weighed in Wilders’ defeat, which his opponent called “a feast for democracy.”

“As hateful as Wilders’ message clearly is, there are many Dutch people that find it appealing because they say A) Muslims are stealing their jobs, and B) Muslims are trying to ‘Muslimify’ the Netherlands. That’s a real word,” said Noah. “That’s why they put their trust in a guy who looks like Christopher Walken when he was a Batman villain.”

Noah then speculated that there is something fishy about these right-wing populists’ bizarre blond coifs—from Wilders to the U.K.’s Boris Johnson to America’s Donald Trump.“And by the way, can I ask a question real quick? What is it with these villains and their hair? They all have the same-looking hair! In Holland it’s Geert, in the U.K. it’s Boris, in the U.S. it’s Trump,” joked Noah. “People, I don’t know if I’m the only one who sees this, but it’s obvious what’s going on here: We’ve been invaded by mind-controlling aliens who look like bad hair.”

There seems to be, Noah argued, a negative “Trump effect”: that countries around the world are observing the rocky Trump administration and opting for stability over a violent shakeup.

“Anything is more stable than Donald Trump,” offered Noah. “A toddler in high heels is more stable than Donald Trump. An IKEA chair on a high-wire over Niagra Falls is more stable than Donald Trump. A bowl of pudding using a vibrator is more stable than Donald Trump.”

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