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The momentum of far-right populist Geert Wilders has been slipping. Even if he were to win, there are obstacles to his taking over outright leadership of this NATO nation. Wilders' platform is a fun-house mirror of Trump and adviser Stephen Bannon's darkest views -- pushing the bar on all Muslim immigration, shuttering all mosques (Wilders calls them "Nazi temples") and asylum centers, banning the Quran and taking the Netherlands out of the European Union in a move dubbed Nexit, following Britain's ill-considered Brexit vote last year. For some time, the Dutch politician found himself with apparently unstoppable momentum. After all, it was Wilders who last April began tweeting, "MAKE THE NETHERLANDS GREAT AGAIN!" Wilders has expended some effort trying to emulate Trump's rise in the United States. He even attended the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and in response to Trump's shocking November victory, Wilders tweeted, "The people are taking their country back. So will we."

These kinds of remarks have enlarged his political appeal, or at least acceptability, to a large number of voters. Now, however, as Trump sinks more deeply into the morass of governing, many may be having some second thoughts.

Much of today's European political spectrum is less a straight right-left line. It's an oval track with candidates running around it in the direction of the popular will at the moment, with both extremes connecting as they round the circle. The challenge for any political candidate, but especially those at the extremes, is to snatch the checkered flag before someone else crosses the finish line going the other way.

Hopefully, Dutch voters and the politicians they finally send to The Hague will have the good sense to assemble a government without any of the extremes that seem so seductive in the short run, but pose an existential threat to Europe and the peace of democracies. And if Trump continues to surprise and horrify Europeans in the weeks to come, that good sense could sweep across the continent, burying the populist wave before it has a chance to take charge of a major nation.

Excerpt from:
Donald Trump casts long shadow over Dutch election - CNN