Pedro Sánchez reminds me of the monologue The castaway, by Joan Capri, which featured that textile manufacturer who was the only one swimming so calmly amidst the shipwreck because "oh, this one, he's been under water for a while." Justice, which hasn't pardoned him with pardons or amnesty, is investigating his family and is going after Minister Bolaños ("whatever he can do, let him do"), and the scandalous own goal in the Ábalos, Cerdán, and Koldo case has left him hanging by a thread.
And then Donald Trump appears, threatening with his usual sarcastic language: "If the Spanish economy is doing well, and if something bad happens to it, this economy could blow up." And that he will "personally" make sure that Spain pays double the tariffs if it doesn't allocate 5% of its GDP to defense. César doesn't accept rebellious provinces.
Since there are no coincidences in politics, we don't know if Sánchez has decided that the only way to hold out is to turn against Trump in order to get the people on his side, but refusing to spend 5% on defense is reasonable if we don't want to see our welfare state further crushed.
Trump speaks as if the United States doesn't benefit from the military bases they've had in Spain for decades, as if American arms companies don't benefit the most from this increase in defense spending, and as if the world becomes safer the more money is spent on weapons. Sánchez's problem is that he's challenging Trump, but he's alone against 30 other countries that remind him that NATO is a club, and that club members have obligations.
