The resignation as a gesticulatory act

We usually consider resignations an honorable (and rare) gesture but they are often more cosmetic than decisive. In the case of the socialists' spokesperson, it is obvious that it is an aesthetic issue: it looks bad for someone to come out making grand proclamations in favor of tenants while their partner is actively pursuing evictions in the courts and speculating in the real estate casino, where the bank also always wins. Now, I would bet a pea, or a penthouse in Madrid if I had one, that she must not be the only politician caught in this contradiction. The thing is not to get caught. From there, the day's press made it evident that the situation was a lose-lose for Sánchez. And the right-wing newspapers fell into amusing contradictions. For example, El Mundo headlined: “Hypocrisy over housing wipes out the PSOE spokesperson” and said in a subtitle that “Sánchez asked her to stay because she was 'a great asset' to the party”. According to this thesis, it is Montse Mínguez who decides to quit, knowing that she has become a burden. And the newspaper, of course, tried to attach this dead weight to the leader of the PSOE, to see if there is any luck and he sinks with her in the process. On the other hand, the ABCexecuted a different (and incompatible) strategy. On the front page they wrote: “Sánchez sacrifices the PSOE spokesperson to cover up the housing fiasco”. Here they did not buy that the Spanish president wanted to retain her and they portrayed him with the executioner's axe, merciless, capable of decapitating one of his own to survive another day and divert the focus from the umpteenth scandal.

Mind you, even though the two theses cancel each other out, one thing unites them: Mínguez's partner remains in the background, because this poor gentleman (poor metaphorically, it is understood) is only a lever, a simple accessory to erode the PSOE's campaign. Resignations often have a lot of posturing for the gallery, but media coverage also tends to be soaked in large doses of hypocrisy.