Everyday banal micro-Francoisms

Feijóo, the man who whispered in the ears of the Basques and Catalans, congratulated the president of the Autonomous City of Melilla, the notoriously powerful Juan José Imbroda, with the phrase, "I don't know what your wife gives you, but you look better every day," which was, naturally, warmly applauded by the audience. Imbroda must have thought it a nice compliment, and his wife probably did too, if she shares her husband's and his party colleagues' worldview. They are the ones who talk about "gender ideology," "feminazis," and false accusations of assault or rape, while lamenting that "you can't say anything anymore" and that "they'll have to fill out a form" to have sex, because of the "gender dictatorship" they see everywhere.

Hours earlier, a senator from Murcia, Francisco Bernabé, from the PP party, celebrated a poll favorable to his party with a tweet quoting the lyrics of the Falange anthem, the Facing the Sun: "Start seasoning in Spain"," the senator tweeted. A few hours later, the president of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, of the PP, was promoting on social media an interview with a far-right historian in a far-right online publication. According to Prohens, the distorted stories told by her new "go-to historian" are ideological. The government is preparing to organize a tribute to the victims of the Republican bombings of the island, as demanded by Vox. In a direct interview, a mayor from the province of Jaén, a character named Francisco García, from Vox, unabashedly gives clients of his business consultancy a calendar dedicated to the dictator Franco.

All these statements were made on the same day (Monday, November 10, 2025) by public figures on the Spanish right. All of them either glorify Francoism or exude an unmistakable whiff of cold, stale Francoism. We could call them micro-Francoisms: not grand speeches, but small verbal contributions that seek to whitewash and normalize Francoist ideas in public discourse. Because there is a similar (or even more abundant) trickle of these kinds of statements every day, they have become an ambient, almost banal occurrence, which many dismiss, or even celebrate with laughter and winks. Underlying all of this is the daily cutthroat political struggle, now further complicated by the succession of Mazón in the Valencian Community.