Cristian Tudor Popescu and Crin Antonescu, acid exchange of lines. “Dirty Little Soul” / “Light Bolognie!”

“Now, I find that, beyond politics, Mr. Crin Antonescu has a small and dirty soul,” wrote journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu on Wednesday, after an interview given by the former PNL leader in Gândul. The former presidential candidate's reply was not long in coming, sending the journalist “Easy bullshit!”.

Crin Antonescu launched a series of criticisms of the Bolojan government, in the show “Ai aflat!”. Asked if he thinks the current government is coming to an end, Crin Antonescu said: “I don't know the government, but Bolomania does. Give me an argument. It seems to me the opposite. The propaganda machine is humming. The media system that brought them to power continues to support them unconditionally. Because it thought and was built on our older finding that Romanians seem to appreciate hard, frowning, determined, harsh leaders.”

CTP: “A Dirty Little Soul”

“Antonescu, laughing stupidly from his reclining chair, rushed at Ilie Bolojan, the man who gave up running for the Presidency in order to bring PSD, PNL and UDMR to his support. Mr. Bolojan publicly supported him, in his personal name, as interim president”, wrote Cristian Tudor Popescu (CTP) on Wednesday, in a Facebook post entitled “A small and dirty soul”.

“At the moment, the prime minister is being attacked from all sides, he is practically not supported by anyone in his effort to get Romania out of the shit. And Antonescu finds a chance to pelt him with aberrant accusations, such as that he is a userist, that he is a fabricated myth, that he has misjudged him and that Bolomania is at an end…”, added the journalist, who before the first round of the presidential elections in May 2025 announced that he would vote for the candidate supported by PNL and PSD for the presidency, Crin Antonescu.

“Well, then it's time for me to say that I misjudged C. Antonescu. I voted for him out of an electoral calculation, not out of moral considerations. Now, I find that, beyond politics, Mr. Crin Antonescu has a small and dirty soul,” concluded CTP.

Crin Antonescu's reply: “However, I have a request: do not expose yourself to maximum ridicule”

“Unlike other producers of public insults, Mr. CTP deserves a few clarifications, regardless of the size of my soul,” reacted the former PNL leader, in a message published on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening.

Crin Antonescu says that I never asked Ilie Bolojan to support him for the presidential candidacy and that “his lordship asked me to run”.

What else does Crin Antonescu say about the presidential candidacy:

• “Mr. Bolojan did not “bring” me the support of PSD, UDMR or PNL, but found it.
• Mr. Bolojan did not give up any candidacy or, at least, I did not ask him to do so. Besides, the theme of Bolojan's candidacy appeared, strictly propagandistically, during the campaign, obviously against me.
• What did or did not do mr. Bolojan during the campaign I will not discuss, because I took full responsibility for the result (failure, in the present case).
• I have nothing to do with the agitation on the political scene in Romania or, possibly, in the PNL (of which I am no longer a member and, of course, I will never be). I have made and will make considerations and comments when requested, when, how and about whom I want.“

“Finally, out of respect for Mr. CTP's truly brilliant intellect (I am not allowed to comment on someone else's soul on Facebook), I have a request: do not expose yourself to maximum ridicule, claiming that Mr. Bolojan “is not supported by anyone in his effort to get Romania out of the shit”. There are many of you. You are almost all of us,” added Crin Antonescu.

And then the former PNL leader has a direct message that he addresses to the journalist.

“And, rest assured Mr. CTP, you have always won: with Iliescu against Ion Diaconescu, and with Băsescu, and with Kovesi, and with Iohannis and with Nicușor Dan. I don't even know, honestly, why, after so many victories, Romania would be, I quote, “in shit”. Can't we at least say something, those of me, with “small and dirty souls”? Easy bullshit!”, concluded Antonescu.

Bolojan, accused of being close to the “neobasist political culture”

Crin Antonescu also stated, in his Wednesday interview with Ionuț Cristache, broadcast on Gândul, that for a long time he regarded Ilie Bolojan as an authentic liberal, formed in the old tradition of the party, but that his perception has changed radically in recent years.

“First of all, I was wrong when, perhaps also because we both had a long time in the party, I considered him to be a liberal. A liberal as the party understood in Tariceanu's time, in my time, some values and a history that we had. Today I find that Mr. Bolojan is much closer to USR, to this relentless political culture. I think, in parentheses, it should be said that Traian Băsescu is somehow his model in politics”, said the former PNL leader.