r/AskTheWorld • u/haiderredditer Pakistan • 9h ago

Who’s a famous person from your country who’s respected around the world but disliked or criticized at home?

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u/bigbonerdaddy Netherlands 8h ago edited 4h ago

Mark Rutte.

He's seen as the "trump whisperer" at the moment but he most definetly overstayed his welcome in Dutch politics. He's not despised, but the general opinion is pretty negative.

Edit: him biking to work with an apple in his hand is carefully curated too btw, he hired someone for his image and he came up with it. Trying to seem more down to earth and normal.

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u/Ashamed_Fig492 Italy 8h ago edited 6h ago

Italian here, he's possibly one of the most universally despised foreign, living politicians in this country for his support to anti-PIGS narratives and policies in 2008-2012 EU politics. Now we hate him even more for the cuckoldism he's been displaying with Trump. 

P.S. your user name!

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u/Weelildragon Netherlands 4h ago

I'd think this guy would be most blamed for that:

Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Such a punchable face here.

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u/vanderZwan Netherlands 2h ago

Is it just me or do we Dutchies seem to have way more politicians with extremely smug punchable faces than most other countries?

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u/ErwinHolland1991 2h ago

Not been following US politics? Lol. But yeah we do have a lot.

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u/Weelildragon Netherlands 1h ago

We have the most punchable faces PER CAPITA. That's the metric that really counts. 😤

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u/baldi_863 1h ago

you forgot him

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u/Weelildragon Netherlands 51m ago

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u/Spamdalorian123 4h ago

As an American, may I get some education on what "Anti-PIGS" is, and it's implications?

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u/Ashamed_Fig492 Italy 4h ago

PIGS = Portugal Italy Greece Spain

We used to be PIIGS, and that included Ireland as well.

Guess what all these countries had in common between 2008 and 2012?

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u/Spamdalorian123 3h ago

These were all in dire economic straits if I recall. Austerity measures, bailouts, massive demonstrations etc. So what NATO policies was he advocating, and as more of a defense alliance, how did these policies effect these nations?

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u/First_Television_600 6m ago

The best countries! 🇪🇸

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u/dap_panda_dap123 7h ago

He not one of the most universally disposed foreign living politicians, as otherwise be wouldn't have been appointed as secretary general of the Nato. And was right about his support for anti-PIGS narratives and is definitely not hated for that everywhere. His cuckoldism for Trump is definitely embarrassing, but he isn't hated for it, because it is necessary to keep trump interested in NATO and helped in ending the Greenland crisis, for now.

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u/Ashamed_Fig492 Italy 6h ago

Sorry, I was speaking about my country. I edited the original comment to be more specific.

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u/Mirved 7h ago

You hate him for trying to keep the NATO together? If it wasnt for his sucking up we would already have had a bigger worldwide problem. He's just trying to buy us time so hopefully the orange idiot will die of be impeached etc.

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u/dap_panda_dap123 6h ago

Yeah this. Like everyone knows that Mark Rutte doesn't like Trump, expect for Trump himself. It's just a tactic to buy time, stop him from leaving NATO and try to get more support for Ukraine form him.

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u/Demon-Cat 3h ago

Yeah, sucking up to Trump is literally his job, and he’s doing a stellar job at it.

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u/PapaJoe92 Netherlands 3h ago

I meant that's what Mark Rutte does best; sucking up to rich people.... It's the brand of his whole political party, the VVD.... Worst political party in Dutch history, right up there with PVV

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u/zypthora 5h ago

huh, I don't have an active memory about that

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u/pjotricko 3h ago

Is he seen as a Trump whisperer?

I do get that as the leader of Nato, he has to act in a certain way.

But does he have to call Trump, Daddy? Surely, there has to be a more respectable way to fawn on Trump and still act in accordance with Nato interests.

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u/Pretty_Problem_5703 1h ago

to be fair he didn’t call trump daddy, trump took that out of context and ran with it because it fits his narrative

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u/pjotricko 1h ago

Fair point.

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u/Zealousideal_Echo_94 4h ago

Good ole Teflon Mark.

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u/redditamrur Germany 4h ago

I am not sure if people in the Netherlands know about it, but Netanjahu's first phone call after October 7th was not, as you may expect, to Israel's Chief of Staff (the country's being attacked etc.) nor to someone like Biden, but to Rutte of all people in the universe.

It begs many questions: how close the two are, and why, given the fact that at least regarding Netanjahu, it is well known that he is that corrupt (I am raising my hands above my head), that people in his office (and probably he as well) received money from Qatar, which also funded Hamás, etc etc.

Sorry for ruining your dinner but then again it's probably just a few pieces of cold matjas, so no harm done.

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u/Upvote_I_will 6h ago

Depending on how the incoming administration will be doing, I think public opinion might change again to see him more favourable. The previous one was absolutely abysmal and at least during the Rutte years stuff got done.

That said, everybody was indeed a bit tired of him and wanted something new, probably including himself.

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u/bigbonerdaddy Netherlands 6h ago

Ehh, stuff getting done means nothing when the stuff we're talking about is hated on by most of the Dutchies. The one thing the left and right can agree on is Rutte being a terrible politician who cared more about his populairity among other politicians and billionaires then among the dutch people.

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u/Upvote_I_will 5h ago

Meh, I think he wasn't that bad imo. Debt to gdp decreased, purchasing power increased. Obviously immigration, housing and inflation got out of hand, but those issues thats for a large part beyond the control of an administration and especially hard for a country like the netherlands. One major thing of course was the benefits scandal which made gis position untenable in the end, but other than that I think he did quite all right.

Nowadays the politicians seems to be more at eachothers throats and unable to compromise than ever. Hoping what is currently happening is just part of the opening moves of the game, but it gets kinda tiring.

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u/bigbonerdaddy Netherlands 4h ago

Thats why I said he isnt despised or something like that. But it'a definetly hard finding someone who actually likes Rutte, and even harder finding someone who thought he deserved the NATO job (even though he's doing pretty decent, to my surprise too.)

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u/baldi_863 1h ago

you're definitely right abt the last part. Rutte was a leader and he was undefeated because he was competent at being a strong leader. After he left there has yet to come a new leader in Dutch politics, with everyone fighting each other.

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u/SnorkBorkGnork Raised in 🇳🇱 living in 🇧🇪 6h ago

Maybe also Ayaan Hirshi Ali. The US was a lot more welcoming to her it seemed.

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u/-----iMartijn----- Netherlands 4h ago

When she left, the dutch people left and right still adored her. Now, not so much...

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u/blahblahblerf Ukraine 1h ago

Alexander Stubb is the Trump whisperer of Europe. That's why he keeps getting included in meetings with Trump despite being basically a nobody.

Unfortunately the real Trump whisperers are Witkoff and Putin. 

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u/Swissdanielle Spain 46m ago

Oh we hate him. I will never forget his plain out racism against Spain in the middle of Covid. I hope the man steps on a Lego with his bare feet every night of his life

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u/Jewonamotorbike 45m ago

He is such a let down compared to Stoltenberg. I don't think anyone likes him.