From the lectern to the bar

When Gabriel Rufián takes out a 50 “bucks” bill and reads the names of the seven Junts deputies from the podium of Congress, is he thinking about himself and the thousands of likes he will get on social media, or is he thinking about tenants and Esquerra voters? Because it is as evident that he felt satisfied as it is that this superb performance is the underlining used by those who believe that voters don't realize much and need someone to draw them a picture with fluorescent markers and many arrows, because today nobody listens to arguments anymore and people no longer read newspapers. Does he think they don't know that Junts voted against the rent extension and that, just in case, a public shaming was necessary?

From 155 silver coins to the 50 euro bill, passing through printers, libraries, and TikTok, Esquerra's spokesperson in Madrid has shown that he masters the language of social media and the old-fashioned soundbite. Sooner or later, we were bound to witness a scene like this, considering that the two major Catalan pro-independence parties have burned everything around them and that the bitterest polarization has already become the starting condition for any political and social debate. But denouncing the aggressive tactics of the far-right daily to end up adapting them to one's own discourse is not coherent at all, no matter how right one believes oneself to be.

The Basque socialists have just used an image created with artificial intelligence to send a message to the PNB. Trump has set a precedent, as always happens with everything Americans invent in political communication. The shaming ends up turning against all of society. To condemn Junts' vote with a bank note, we already have the bar. From the podium of a Parliament, we have the right to expect politics.