Sánchez decided to call elections at a family lunch: "My parents and my wife told me it was necessary"

BarcelonaPedro Sánchez has firmly opted in this electoral pre-campaign to exploit his most personal and human profile, a field where he feels comfortable and which contrasts with the difficulties of the Popular Party's Alberto Núñez Feijóo to stray from the script without making mistakes. After his appearance on La revuelta, the Spanish prime minister continues his tour of casual interviews and has landed on the podcast Keep it Cutre, where he assured that he decided to call early general elections during a family lunch on Sunday, October 4th, one day before publicly announcing the call: "Both my parents and my wife told me that it was necessary to call elections [...] That was when I made the decision," he said in the podcast episode where he is interviewed, hosted by Ángela Henche and Albanta San Román and published this morning on Youtube.

Dressed in jeans, a shirt and a sweater, and claiming the value of "one-on-one" interviews, the socialist leader rejected the idea that behind every decision he makes "there is a political motive or an electoral end." "Look, I am not an NGO, that is clear... but when the housing decree-law fell, I did not call elections immediately," he said. According to him, he first wanted to see the "response" in the streets and, above all, attend a "very important appointment": the Sunday lunch with his family. Sánchez explained that both Begoña Gómez, his wife, and his parents told him that "the parliament had to be renewed" if he could not push through the measures approved following the Maricarmen case. And that, after listening to them, that same day he informed King Felipe VI that he would call early elections. A day later he appeared to announce the 29-N.

The PSOE candidate starts the interview by introducing himself as a "circumstantial" president. "The presidency is an honor, but it is temporary. I tell my daughters and my wife that, fortunately, it is not a job for life," he says. A clear message to rebut the narrative of the right-wing parties, who accuse him of doing whatever it takes to perpetuate himself in power. In this sense, he makes it clear that, beyond being "exciting", politics is "demanding", although he points out that, for now, he aspires to be able to govern for four more years.

The young people involved in the riots were "deceived"

In the interview, and speaking again about the personal consequences of politics, Sánchez attacks the use that parties like the PP and Vox are making of AI. "They are using the same tools as bullies against minors," he states, and has positioned the Socialists as "victims" of this "ruthless and irresponsible" electoral strategy. In this sense, he reports that Begoña Gómez has filed a complaint against the Popular Party for identity theft, following the controversial video made with artificial intelligence in which Feijóo's party attributed crimes to various leaders and people surrounding the PSOE. Also, former socialist militant Leire Díez reported the conservatives for this fact, although experts consulted by ARA agree that probably none of these actions will have any standing in court.

Sánchez also refers to social networks and points out the role they have played in the riots and looting last Saturday in Barcelona. Unlike the punitivist discourse that the PP and Vox are adopting -which are already talking about hardening penalties for the young people involved and their families-, the president has emphasized how the calls to take to the streets took place in groups where information about concerts was circulating and which suddenly changed to promote violent acts. A way of doing things, he said, that ends up "deceiving and trapping 14-year-old kids". "They end up entangled in riots and have now been arrested and placed at the disposal of the courts", he laments, even though after last Saturday's events he promised "zero tolerance" with actions that he described as "pure vandalism".