US Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, can be in the spotlight thanks to his racist rants. Some journalists in Finland have tried unsuccessfully to ask what Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Foreign Minister Timo Soini, a populist, thinks of Trump.
In my opinion, there are a lot of similarities between both politicians.
If Trump had a “good cop” that person would undoubtedly be Soini.
Unfair comparison? Like Trump in the United States, Soini has brought his brand of populism to Finland. Like Trump, Soini has given a platform to racists and fascists. The factor that unites both of them is their hatred of people who are different from them.
Trump and Soini promote the same type of polarized society but in different national contexts.
Donald Trum the “bad cop” and Timo Soini the “good cop.” Source: busisinessinsider.com and aamulehdenblogit.ning.com.
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic Finn.”