Sánchez and what the right does

It is true that the explanations given by the Spanish president and secretary general of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Pedro Sánchez, in his appearance on Monday fell short and fail to reveal the magnitude of the scandal and the disappointment not only of many socialist voters but also of many supporters of the progressive coalition government. "Supporters" may not be the right word, if only because they accept it as the lesser evil, in the face of an ultra-nationalist right that gallops unbridled under the slogans of its own nihilism of calimocho and bullring. Sánchez did, however, once again demonstrate his famous firmness in bad times, and the evidence that he is a far more intelligent individual than his adversaries/enemies. The question that arose on Monday night in the More 3/24: if Sánchez should commit to not being the candidate in the elections, when they are held (as proposed by Joan Josep Moreso and Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca) or if at this time the succession of Sánchez is a matter too complex and thorny to face two years before the elections and in the midst of all this tension, as I pointed out David MiróThere are reasons for both options. But if it's not his own replacement, Sánchez was missed offering something of sufficient relevance to offset the disenchantment produced by Cerdán's audio recordings, beyond the "if I leave, they'll come back" sentiment. as Antoni Bassas says.

Sánchez, on the other hand, paradoxically, has two points in his favor that do not depend directly on him. One is the behavior of his partners, who, with the exception of Podemos (so far, let's say, an exception that has been able to be redirected), have reaffirmed their willingness not to let Sánchez and his government fall, evidently because of everything they have at hand, starting with the amnesty law. The Basque nationalist right and left, through Aitor Esteban and Arnaldo Otegi, respectively, have expressed themselves particularly emphatically, with a clarity and a lack of rhetoric and gestures that are frankly enviable.

The other point in Sánchez's favor is the behavior of the aforementioned ultra-nationalist right, which simply cannot help itself. Since the audio recordings were made public, and especially since Sánchez's spectral appearance last Thursday afternoon, they have entered a spiral of euphoria that has once again led them to all kinds of verbal excesses, both on the part of their leaders and their media and creative circles. They continually live life like a soccer final that must be won by ten to zero, with the same childish spirit and with an aggressiveness and rudeness as, if not more, offensive than the language of Cerdán, Ábalos, Koldo, and company. As long as they remain on this path—and there is nothing to suggest they are capable of breaking it—it is obvious that they will not be able to muster the support to form a majority, nor to push through the motion of censure that Sánchez challenged them to present just to irritate them even more. Needless to say, he succeeded, as always.