The former secretary general of the PP youth wing, a young man named Carlo G. Angrisano, has left the New Generations. peperas to switch to Vox, how can one read in this newspaperDon't think that Angrisano, a young man with the ruddy complexion typical of certain conservative youth, made this decision out of self-interest. On the contrary: he is driven by the disappointment he feels with the party he belonged to until the end of last week: "I was one of many Spaniards convinced that the People's Party should protect the best of our country," he laments in a highly sentimental message posted on social media. Now, however, he sees that the PP has ceased to represent the values for which he joined the party, namely: "Love for Spain, for its identity, its history, its freedom, and the dignity of our people." And he perceives, instead, that Vox does represent all these ideals, which, according to Angrisano, are now "trampled on by separatism" (he hasn't realized that separatism is dedicated to trampling on itself). The now-former secretary general of the PP's youth wing sees "firm ideas" and "unwavering principles" in Vox, which, incidentally, is the party for which his uncle, Juan Carlos Girauta, is currently a Member of the European Parliament. Girauta had previously been a member of the PP and Ciutadans, and, in his youth, of the PSC. Following the family tradition of political opportunism, and as self-serving Catalans, perhaps once they're done with Vox they can join Aliança Catalana together.
Without realizing it, Angrisano is foreshadowing what appears likely to happen again next Sunday in the Castile and León elections, another election that will almost certainly end with the PP even more dependent on Vox and more beholden than ever to the far right. His defection is also indicative of a phenomenon occurring in the West: how traditional center-right parties (there is much to discuss regarding the PP's affiliation with this ideological space) have fostered the rise of the far right by imitating, or adopting, its rhetoric.
The case of the PP and Vox—the case of the Spanish right—is different: Vox is simply an offshoot of the PP, and the "firm ideas" and "unwavering principles" are the same in both parties, regardless of what Angrisano says. What's curious is that the PP dismissed someone who until now held such a prominent position in their organization (and therefore aspired to a career within the party) by calling him lazy and incompetent: specifically, they sarcastically remarked that Angrisano's departure isn't a "brain drain" and that "now he'll know what work is." Given that party financing in Spain remains shrouded in secrecy, which simply means that taxpayers largely fund them, the question is: how many of these parties actually have taxpayers? Could it be that most of the party leadership can be described in the same terms?
