AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt: Ulrich Siegmund celebrates with his wife in front of a cheering crowd

When it was clear that his party had won the election in Saxony-Anhalt, he came onto the stage. Ulrich Siegmund, who led the AfD to 44 percent, holding hands with his wife. People in the audience wave with cardboard signs that read: “Prime Minister of the Heart.” Siegmund and his wife stand briefly in front of the cheering crowd, then they kiss. A moment of tenderness intended for the cameras.

The pictures go around the world. Just when a right-wing extremist party could govern a federal state in Germany for the first time, they are staging a moment that is permeated with love symbolism.