“Caren Miosga”: Markus Söder justifies verbal attacks on the Greens

TV review
“Caren Miosga”: Markus Söder defends verbal attacks on the Greens

The mood on the German streets is becoming increasingly aggressive. Politicians from the Green Party have repeatedly been the victims of late: in January, an angry crowd of economics ministers Robert Habeck prevented from going ashore from a ferry. The Greens had to cancel their political Ash Wednesday in Biberach in Baden-Würtemberg in advance due to aggressive protest actions. Some protesters threw objects at police officers. In Hirschhaid in Bavaria, almost two weeks ago, 300 people disrupted a party event organized by a green district association so badly that the party members had to leave the building under police protection.

Guest at “Caren Miosga”:

Markus Söder with “smart” advice in his luggage

Markus Söder doesn’t say a word about the brutalization and border crossings of the Greens. Instead, he attempts a perpetrator-victim reversal: the reason for the past events is the politics of the Greens and the behavior of the party members. “Think about yourself,” he advises the hated party. The Greens should be able to tolerate someone having a different opinion. He ignores the fact that threats and violence have nothing to do with simple differences of opinion. Markus Söder’s appearance at Caren Miosga is a prime example of populism.

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Of course, Söder also manages to take a big look at himself: “If you see what the Greens say about me.” For example, Söder is bothered by the fact that Green Party leader Omid Nouripour compared him to a problem bear – “Bears that can kill people!” says the CSU politician indignantly. Caren Miosga is visibly amused and has to stop herself from laughing. The journalist Mariam Lau is surprised at the perception of the Greens in the Union, “as if they were the arrogant educators of the people.” Lau has the impression that the Greens are hated for policies that they haven’t dared to pursue for years.

Half-hearted apologies to “Caren Miosga”

In her show, Caren Miosga presents excerpts from Söder’s speech, which he gave on political Ash Wednesday. This speech contained some crazy gags that even Mario Barth probably couldn’t come up with at his peak. An example: “What makes my dog ​​different from Kevin Kühnert and Ricarda Lang? My dog ​​has completed training.” But that’s not enough. In another excerpt, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke described Söder as the “green Margot Honecker”. A tasteless derailment that caused outrage, especially among those affected.

Söder explained to Miosga that he was sorry if that had hurt Lemke. Political scientist Julia Reuschenbach finds this half-hearted apology telling. The question is actually whether Söder thinks it was wrong to have said that. Mariam Lau makes it clear that words have consequences. “You are in the process of separating the Greens from democratic society,” the journalist accuses the Bavarian Prime Minister.

Söder justifies himself by saying that sharp-tongued speeches are part of political Ash Wednesday. Söder is not wrong about that, but Reuschenbach puts it aptly: “Political Ash Wednesday is not the problem, but the fact that we constantly have political Ash Wednesday. That we are constantly at the point where people indulge in ideological, mutual trench warfare and blame and out there, people’s trust in the problem-solving ability of politics continues to decline.”