“Trump really is exactly what you think he is when you interact with him.” That’s what Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist N-VA) says in the new TV programme ‘A-Typical’ on Streamz. In it, over a score of people with autism spectrum disorder grill him on politics, Trump and Gaza. De Wever responds candidly but also admits: “One of the limitations of my job is that you sometimes have to watch what you say.”
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Prime Minister De Wever: “Trump's has a unique personality structure!”
Colin Clapson
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In a new programme “A-Typisch” on the Flemish streaming service Streamz, 25 people on the autism spectrum get to ask questions to well-known Flemish figures over the course of six episodes. Prime Minister Bart De Wever is one of the guests.
With questions ranging from his premiership to Trump, from Euroclear to Gaza, current events are also dissected. And De Wever answers with surprising candour.
About U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos
Dorien, one of the participants, wants to know what the prime minister really thinks about U.S. President Donald J. Trump following their meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And be honest,” she adds.
De Wever weighs his words: “Trump is exactly as you’d expect him to be. Often, public figures have a persona that doesn’t quite match their true self, but with some people, the two align surprisingly well.” Trump is one of those people, our prime minister says.
“He is someone with a unique personality structure who doesn’t like to be contradicted. He has made a lot of decisions that have turned the world upside down, that have made the certain uncertain. He might hold it against me that I’m saying this, but it’s true. We are being dragged into conflicts, and right now our relationship with the U.S. is difficult.”
Although he admits he can’t say everything he thinks: “One of the limitations of my profession is that you sometimes have to watch what you say. You’d think that if you say something about Trump here, he wouldn’t hear it, but that’s not the case. The United States has embassies and ambassadors all over the world who keep an eye on what’s being said in a country.”
On Israel and the war in Gaza
A moment of disagreement follows when Gauthier asks a question. “Why do you defend Israel’s interests while they’re destroying the world?”
“It’s too one-sided to say that Israel is destroying the world. They are currently on the offensive on many fronts, but they are also facing a lot of aggression. So in this conflict, I find it difficult to say that someone is 100 percent right or wrong. It is a shared responsibility,” De Wever explains, before referring to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
The prime minister speaks of extremes on both sides. “Hamas provoked the war with their attack on October 7, and the far-right government in Israel saw its chance effectively to wage that war.”
“I see two negative aspects there that reinforce each other and no longer view suffering as a problem. They have dehumanised their opponents. Today, as throughout history, it is not that difficult to turn people into murderers of their own neighbours.”
But when Gauthier asks him, De Wever refuses to recognise the violence as genocide. “Israel has a terrible government. They are the strongest, so their mistakes have greater consequences. Terrorists are terrible, but Israel is a democratic country with a legitimate government. They have a different responsibility, and they are fulfilling it in the most terrible way.”
“It is a ruthless war in which nothing and no one is spared,” he concludes. But as for recognising it as genocide, De Wever believes that is a matter for the international court to decide.