Day 127.

There is some good news out of the Netherlands tonight, as it appears Geert Wilders has been defeated. For those who aren’t familiar with Wilders, he was Trumpian before Trump was, running on an anti-immigration platform with such notable behaviors as calling Moroccans “scum” and basically banning Islam. I say it appears to be a victory for Prime Minister Mark Rutte, because fearing hacking, the Netherlands has used paper ballots. We won’t have final results for about a week.

This isn’t an unalloyed victory, though it’s a good sign. Rutte is center-right as it is, and some believe Wilders was successful at pushing him further to the right. It’s a window into possible avenues of success against these extremist forces in government, though.

Here’s another good sign – I was heartened to read this piece about the defeat of the One Nation party in Australia. The advice, again, is simple – avoid the circus of mocking a buffoonish candidate. Stick to the issues.

I also want to temper this by saying that populist sentiment, even xenophobic populist sentiment, is still very much alive around the world. It’s not simply going to vanish. But better ideas, better policy, have to win the argument – not mockery.