After many years of work as advisors, think tanks and spin doctorsMadrid (that is, Spanish) politics has managed to resemble the most viscous programs on the most popular trash TV. Shouts, nervous breakdowns, threats, fake tears, fake laughter, outlandish characters, speeches that literally make no sense, and language that, in its rudeness and poverty, would put even the most notorious chibius criminals to shame have become the order of the day. As citizens—and as taxpayers—it's impossible to devote even a few minutes of attention to them without feeling an unpleasant mix of stupefaction, embarrassment, and anger. If Pedro Sánchez claimed roughly a year ago that he wanted to "stop the mud machine," nothing else can be said about what has come out of it. On the contrary, the PSOE itself—which always moves in tow with the PP and Vox—is also fully caught in the machine. This Friday the Spanish president is expected to get down in the mud at a forum that is supposed to be an institutional and coordination meeting between the central government and the autonomous governments, but which they men from the PP have already announced that they will go into politics hooligan, for attempting to say no to everything against Sánchez, using the financing of Catalonia and Catalanophobia as the main arguments.
This is the circus we are forced to endure, with snake men, bearded women, and twin brothers added to the top of their heads. But as repulsive as it may be, it's all artifice, spitfire, garbage, if you will: nothing. However, behind it are facts, and also threats. The facts are that, after the pantomime of their supposed rupture, the PP is once again dependent on Vox, perhaps more than ever, as evidenced by the budget pacts they have signed in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. The other fact is that, with the combined seats of the PP and Vox, it is not enough to pass the motion of censure that Feijóo pretends he will present day in and day out. To do so, he also needs the votes of Junts and/or the PNV, which precisely the presence of Vox automatically rules out.
To understand the real threats, one should not listen to the babbling of Vox, but to the voices of chulapas Madrid natives, grotesque self-caricatures themselves, of Esperanza Aguirre and her gifted disciple, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, authoritative representatives of the true spirit of the Spanish nationalist right. The former claims that she sees no reason for the state to have to pay for public healthcare or the welfare state (in addition to a nonsense we won't repeat about the Franco dictatorship). The latter announces that he does not intend to tolerate being spoken to in Catalan, and he says this is "provincialism." Now we call it Trumpism, but here, that's Spanish ultranationalism, illiberal right-wingism, and xenophobia (against the Catalans, and against any god they don't like). And it's the only government alternative currently hiding behind the unbearable noise of Spanish politics.
