Feijóo trips over the same stone again

Alberto Núñez Feijóo's ability to repeatedly stumble over the same stone, which is none other than parliamentary arithmetic, is truly astonishing. Just when the PSOE was at its worst, in turmoil over the imprisonment of its until recently number three, Santos Cerdán, Feijóo decided to launch a maneuver to gauge whether any of Pedro Sánchez's partner parties would support him in a motion of no confidence.

This move, executed by Miguel Tellado, who is emerging as the PP's new number two as of Sunday, has resulted in a true political catastrophe. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. First of all, it's hilarious that Tellado sent a message to Gabriel Rufián (ERC) to ask if he would be open to supporting a motion of no confidence with Feijóo as his candidate. Evidently, Rufián has nonchalantly taken the opportunity to point the finger at the sore spot and recall all the PP's corruption cases. When Tellado knocked on Junts' door, he was met with a humiliating response: if they want something, first go to Waterloo to meet with Carles Puigdemont. And ultimately, the PNV, which on paper might be the most likely party to undertake an operation of this nature, got angry with the PP because Tellado held the press conference before speaking with them.

But the absurdity doesn't end there. Tellado's calls to ERC and Junts have particularly annoyed the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who once again corrected her party's president, warning against "missteps." In other words, the no-confidence operation not only lasted only a few hours (from the moment Feijóo himself announced it on social media until Tellado appeared), but it also served to divide the party internally and, in turn, reveal its isolation and lack of diplomatic skills. In this sense, it is especially worrying for Feijóo that Tellado, a person with a very unsociable nature, will be the new general secretary of the PP as of Sunday.

But how do we explain this rookie mistake on Feijóo's part? Well, because of the pressure he's under, especially from Vox, to present a motion of no confidence. Surely the PP leader intended to demonstrate that he doesn't have enough support and, therefore, cut off the debate on the motion of no confidence altogether. The problem is that he's achieved exactly the opposite: throughout the day, the main topic of discussion, especially on the right, has been whether or not it's necessary to present a motion of no confidence.

Feijóo is wrong when he presents the motion as a simple matter of numbers. That it's destined to fail can't be the only argument. Sometimes it's necessary to present it simply for political coherence, especially when you consider that your country is going through a massive crisis and a change of course is necessary, or at least to show that there's an alternative ready to take over. Tuesday's maneuver, however, demonstrates neither one nor the other.