Markus Söder won the duel in the parliamentary group of the Union against Armin Laschet.
That keeps him, who dreads the CDU and fascinates them at the same time, in the running.
Munich - It wasn't long ago: Only on Sunday did Markus Söder * promise not to be like Strauss once did.
Now he's mutated into that: a political predator, powerful, cunning, terrifying and unscrupulous.
In the Bundestag faction, he pressed his rival Armin Laschet * against the wall in a historic duel on Wednesday.
It has aroused enthusiasm in a union that has only been busy moderating for years, where gray party apparatuschiks set the tone in their committees and elect mediocre figures to be their leaders.
People like Laschet.
Decent through and through.
But also boring, because there are no expectations for the future associated with them.
Söder has given the bouquet: His strength is also his great weakness - CDU fears the Söder command
Söder gave the bouquet.
Or, depending on your taste, the Merz *, the other black giant that he just got in the way of himself.
But Söder's strength is also his great weakness.
It is his unbridled will to power, the claim to leadership pouring out of every pore that makes him so sexy for many voters after 16 years of Merkelei - and at the same time so unbearable for the big state party CDU *, which cannot imagine a worse nightmare than eight or twelve years To have to dance to the whistle of the nefarious and domineering CSU boss.
Chancellor showdown in the Union: Söder tears up Laschet recommendation of the CDU - and attacks party grandees
Söder himself delivered the object lesson for more dodgy backbenchers when, at the beginning of the week, he tore up the unanimous recommendation of the CDU presidium for Laschet, contrary to all previous assurances, and accused the CDU grandees of backroom messing like an angry tribune.
There it was again, that unpredictable CSU * that had already led the Union to the brink of abyss in 2018.
Söder puts everything on one card.
Encourages the coup plotters in the sister party.
Disgraced their leadership.
Dismantled Laschet.
And wants to know who the CDU is more afraid of: him - or the loss of power.
* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
