Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'Trump's reception in England is an obscene provocation to the people'

This afternoon, our ears will be ringing because Sánchez and German Chancellor Merz are meeting in Moncloa Palace. The big question will be the EU's position on Gaza. Germany finds it difficult to take a stand against Israel due to a guilty conscience about the Nazi concentration camps, while Sánchez, out of conviction and self-interest, He was one of the first to speak about genocideBut at one point during the meeting, they'll discuss the official status of Catalan in Europe. Spain supports it because it's an agreement between Junts and the PSOE, and Germany is against it.

In May, it was almost achieved. Italy had said yes, and it hadn't been easy. But just then, the Germans changed governments, and the chancellor became a member of the conservative CDU, a partner of the PP. The changes in Germany at the Foreign Ministry and the Secretary of State for the EU have been disastrous for the Catalan president. And Dolors Montserrat, who is the number two among the European conservatives, is busy chasing any recognition. Therefore, Sánchez will have a tough time getting Merz's yes. But it's in his best interest if he wants to keep his government alive with the support of Junts, which is what they will discuss today in Geneva. Both Sánchez and Merz currently have other work to do, both in Gaza and in the economy.

Speaking of Gaza, Spain is engaged in a debate about whether what Israel is doing constitutes genocide or not.

The PSOE says it and the PP doesn't say it, but Feijóo is approaching, while Ayuso and Aznar deny it and, in fact, applaud Israel. Curiously, Xavier García Albiol, mayor of Badalona, ​​​​has said that if the UN talks about genocide, who is he to deny it? Albiol speaks with the unashamedness of being the PP's only success in Catalonia (I mean that if the party gets angry with him it's a problem for the party, not for him). He is mayor of the third (or fourth, he is competing with Terrassa) city in the country, which he achieves because even those who vote for independence or socialist vote for him. And that is why yesterday he voted in favor of measures that favor the social use of Catalan.

I end by pointing out the dangerous shift of democracies towards authoritarianism.

English police arrested four people yesterday for projecting photos of Trump with Epstein onto the stones of Windsor Castle, where Trump slept. In England, the cradle of liberal democracy, have four people been arrested for doing this? It's in line withthat other thing.

The American television network ABC has suspended "indefinitely" (that is, it has cancelled) the late show comedian Jimmy Kimmel for a comment he made on Monday about the murder of Trump activist Charlie Kirk. The comedian emphasized how, once it was known the identity of alleged killer Tyler RobinsonIt turned out he came from a Trump-supporting, gun-loving family. The program's shutdown is yet another symptom of the suffocating witch hunt Trumpism has launched against anyone who doesn't align with Trump.

And meanwhile, the King of England went all out on Trump yesterday. A carriage trip, a military parade, a gala dinner, and the arrest of critics—all so Trump can look in the mirror and say, "Mirror, mirror, who's more important than me?" Because, in case it wasn't clear that this was all a comedy, what you saw had to be done behind closed doors, far from the streets where people were demonstrating against Trump.In other words, the carriage ride was meant to go nowhere, just to show off the pomp and circumstance. It's an obscene comedy. The world is on fire, and a vulgar guy like Trump is being rewarded with a gala dinner to flatter him and inflame his vanity. How do they expect people not to protest? They're being provocative. Let's not allow freedom of expression and the right to criticize and use humor about power to be taken away from us.

Good morning.