Pablo Motos, personal trainer of Feijóo

What a coincidence that Antena 3 invited Alberto Núñez Feijóo on the same day that Zapatero had to testify before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional. A strategy to add more media pressure. The leader of the PP appeared on El hormiguero visibly nervous. Before the interview began, Feijóo asked to send a warm greeting to Ilia Topuria, who was badly beaten on Donald Trump's birthday. A disconcerting reaction considering the context of blood and guts of that decadent party. But the gesture seemed an allegory of the new evening we were about to see. The great theater of shadowboxing, those training sessions where the boxer fights an shadow, an imaginary opponent, practicing blows in the air and dodging invisible hooks. Pablo Motos acted as his trainer, a corner man devoted to the cause.

The presenter kept referring to the great social pessimism: “You go to bed for a nap and when you wake up there's another scandalWhat can Spaniards expect from you if you one day reach Moncloa?What can Spaniards expect from you if one day you reach Moncloa?Is it possible that the PSOE ends up indicted?Is it possible that the PSOE ends up indicted?”, “Is democracy in danger?”, “What else has to happen for Pedro Sánchez to call early elections?” The only thing that bothered Feijóo was having to admit his incompetence with English.

Journalistically, a verification process for all of Feijóo's answers is urgent. Motos did not question any data from him. But all the figures and assessments related to immigration and its regularization were questionable. Andreu Buenafuente also got it. The PP leader assured that, in the past, the comedian explained to him that he had 40 scriptwriters on his program. “I only have eleven...”, Motos let go, feeling a bit awkward. It was uncomfortable that the presenter questioned him three times about the abortion law. And it was ugly that Feijóo used the case of Noelia Castillo for political purposes regarding euthanasia.

At the end of the interview, Feijóo was proclaimed the winner of the farce. The crescendo of the conversation was a parody of that Rocky climbing the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and punching the air to celebrate his rebirth. Feijóo, unlike Topuria, emerged without a scratch from a fight that never existed.