Shortly before Easter it happened that the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU chairman Markus Söder decided to “evil rumours” (picture) to comment on his private situation. “All nonsense,” said Söder Süddeutsche Zeitung“unfair fake news”.
Now Söder is leading one of these political lives, which is so rich in breathtaking realities that it is actually no longer dependent on inventions. On the other hand, a man who is trusted to do just about anything naturally invites you like no other to add one or two fantasy elements to reality.
A true eruption of relevant creativity was recorded in April 2021, which was certainly completely coincidental at the time when Söder was trying to get the Union’s chancellor candidacy. The origin of the rumors cannot be clarified beyond doubt; however, representatives of a sister party of the CSU also made a valuable contribution to its dissemination with tireless commitment.
Over time, the rumors developed a dynamic life of their own. If you thought for a moment that they were gone, they returned with a vengeance, always enriched with new, supposedly striking evidence of their correctness. Söder, it said, had – very, very definitely – not been seen in public with his wife for two months. The claim didn’t even stand up to a Google search.
Another time it was said that Söder had moved into a house in the Nuremberg suburb of Rückersdorf without his wife. Photos of that house, or to be more precise, of three different houses, circulated in chat groups and on the Internet. At some point, the community of Rückersdorf sent out a somewhat desperate press release: Söder doesn’t live here, please leave the real homeowners alone.
Such a fascination was inherent in the rumors that they were carried on with conviction even by irreproachable personalities from politics and society. “Why don’t you finally write that?” a whistleblower asked a journalist at the end of his patience.
Oh well. Because – by human standards – it’s just not true. (And by the way, it would be true, it would only be politically relevant to a very limited extent.) But to console those who are now disappointed: Of course, Markus Söder is still capable of everything.