And then there were two
The meltdown of Denmark’s most controversial political party continues, but even it has a limit for shitposting
In comparison with the rowdy hectoring of British parliamentary sessions and the bitter sniping of American legislators, Danish politics transpires in a generally civil, almost respectful discourse. Most bills pass with broad support. The Opposition may present sharp criticism and complain of the government’s arrogance and exploitation of its power, but there is still a willingness to pursue compromise and consensus.
The New Right party (Nye Borgerlige) has been one of the most provocative forces in Parliament since its founding in 2015. It has competed with the Danish People’s Party (DF) to be tough on immigration and Muslims in particular while espousing unpopular neoliberal economic policies. But in the short period since the November election, when it won six seats, it has suffered a series of internal squabbles that has reduced its representation by more than half.
The wheat from the chaff
MP Mette Thiesen resigned from the party after her boyfriend assaulted a party employee at the post-election gathering, and she later joined DF. On 11 January, party chair Pernille Vermund announced that she was stepping down and would not run for reelection to Parliament. In February, Lars Boje Mathiesen was chosen as her successor, which caused new MP Mikkel Bjørn Sørensen to resign in protest and, like Thiesen, join DF.
One month later, Boje Mathiesen was kicked out of the party (DK) by the governing board, apparently because he had made an unreasonable demand to use a large sum from the party’s coffers for his personal branding. Vermund returned as acting chair, announcing that she would stand for reelection after all. In the following week, some 500 members resigned from the party. The latest casualty is Peter Seier Christensen, a founding member of the party, who has taken a sick leave because of stress (DK), leaving only one other working MP besides Vermund.
The sayings of Founder Petersen
But that wasn’t the party’s most sensational event of the week. Svend Petersen is not an MP, but he is another of the party’s founders and a member of its governing board. The tabloid Ekstra Bladet compiled a list of pithy comments he has made about prominent politicians (DK) on social media:
He described Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen as “a fullblown psychopath.”
Socialist People’s Party Chair Pia Olsen Dyhr as a “totally corrupt power-crazed bitch.”
Head of the Health Authority Søren Brostrøm as a “communist faggot.”
Leader of the Free Green party Sikander Siddique as “SickDick Shithole.”
His former party colleague Anahita Malakians, to whom he lost a libel case after he accused her of theft and vandalism, as a “shrill bleating madwoman.”
When the police used force against pandemic lockdown protesters, Petersen wrote that the police should “get a beating.”
To a tweet quoting former far-right party founder and infamous tax evader Mogens Glistup as saying “all good Danes are racist,” Petersen replied, “I knew that he said something wise and correct.”
The last straw
Vermund herself had been criticized in 2019 for calling a passing motorist a “perker” (a pejorative for a person of Middle Eastern background) in a documentary program. She had been a personal friend of Petersen’s, and she and her ex-husband had vacationed with him in 2020. As late as 27 March, she refused to take action (DK) against him for statements made before he became a board member, but upon learning of the last of his remarks above, she realized he was beyond the pale (DK): “When we founded the New Right,” she said, “I made it clear that we were not racists, and we do not want to be known as racists.”
The only faction further to the right where Petersen can go is the Hard Line party, which has failed to make the parliamentary threshold. The problem is that its leader, Rasmus. Paludan, who is even more reviled than Petersen for his incendiary statements and Koran-burning, might not want him. Petersen once hired Paludan as his attorney and then stiffed him. Maybe Petersen could go work for that more illustrious deadbeat Trump as a name-calling consultant.