Advent means arrival. In the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, people wait for the coming of the Lord. But that doesn’t say anything about his identity. It may be that the younger ones who still believe in fairy tales are waiting for the Lord Jesus. The older ones should be more excited about Markus Söder. More specifically, how he will light the last candle on the Advent wreath on Sunday. Even more precisely: which photo of it is distributed on Instagram.
The first three candles had ignited the net, the second candle more than the first, and then it got really hot and heated with the third. People not only noticed that Söder was apparently wearing the same sweater and shirt in every photo, but also that candle one had burned down as little as candle two on the second Advent. Even the reputable “Süddeutsche Zeitung” got involved, suspecting that Söder had lit all the candles at one and the same photo shoot, possibly as early as November.
Is it fire safety?
Now one could say: Even if! Wouldn’t that be better than the idea that the prime minister and head of the CSU, who is hardly ever at home anyway, can be driven to the CSU headquarters (according to FAZ research, the Advent wreath is there) for a photo shoot every Sunday in Advent instead of the Holy Sunday to spend with his loved ones and their loved ones? Apart from that, the evidence on which the assumptions are based is extremely thin: the fact that the candles did not burn out can also be due to fire protection – or to Söder’s many external appointments. And if it weren’t authentic, yes likeable, would Söder wear the same sweater every Sunday?
It’s still a fire hazard. Because credibility has always been Söder’s Achilles’ heel, especially when it comes to religion. But the Protestant, if he is not a man of God, at least knows how to arm himself. When an “SZ” journalist wanted to check whether Söder, as he claims, always carries a Bible audio book with him in the service limousine, he opened the glove compartment and took it out, enjoying his triumph.
What will he do this time? Will he wear a new sweater in the final Advent photo, which will go viral on Sunday, because the other one had to go to the laundry? Will he wear a new one because he had a new picture taken to prove his critics wrong? Or will he present the same sweater again to document that Markus Söder cannot be disturbed by online debates? Or will he wear the same sweater, but in front of an Advent wreath on which the candles have burned down to different degrees – and then, instead of pursing his lips as on the second Advent, wink at the viewer to show that he is also in these for kept our sense of humor through all these difficult days?
In any case, Söder managed to turn the stagnant time into a phase of shimmering expectation. The big final will not take place in Qatar on Sunday, but in Bavaria. Finale at home.
