This year's launch of the txupinazo has had a new claim to give a more prominent focus to Sanfermines. It has been ten years since the group rape of an 18-year-old girl by five individuals who called themselves La Manada. The media used the name to label the case. The trial, with the first sentence in April 2018, marked a turning point in the legislation of sexual offenses in Spain. The citizen reaction to the initial classification of the facts as "sexual abuse" contributed to a legislative reform in 2022 with the law of only yes is yes, based on the principle of explicit consent.On Antena 3 noticias they noted the anniversary to wonder if anything had changed in how this festival was celebrated. The premise already says very little about the customs associated with San Fermines. Until the 2016 rape scandal, sexism and abuse against women were even normalized on television. Most programs sent young female reporters, knowing that part of the spectacle consisted of seeing how they were harassed by a crowd that was over the top and drunk. Images of topless women being groped by the crowd were also a typical postcard of the time. And they had been normalized as if they were unavoidable terrible cases of macho violence, such as the murder of Nagore Laffage in Pamplona on July 7, 2008. This week's news spoke of purple points to report and statements in a street survey in which some people recalled the importance of the precaution of going accompanied. An evident symptom that responsibility continues to fall on women and that there has been no social change in the macho behavior of certain individuals nor in the dangers associated with nightlife.The media reality regarding San Fermín, however, has not changed much. We saw it the same day on the reactionary and sensationalist program En boca de todos, on Cuatro. The presenter, Nacho Abad (who at the time had the nerve to ask on social media if the La Manada case had been a rape or consensual sex), sent a reporter to the epicenter of the festival to mingle with the crowd in the square. During the first connection, there was already a drunk individual approaching her, with an attitude that showed that the tradition of harassing journalists in that context has not been lost. Abad, with some useless grimaces, reprimanded the individual “for bothering a woman”, and took advantage of the conflict to present himself as a moral crusader and go viral on social media. They also dedicated themselves to counting banners that called for the return of ETA prisoners.In Espejo público these ten years served to attack the socialist government and the only yes means yes law. A commentator on Griso's show stated: “I believe that La Manada inaugurated mainstream feminism, this feminism made of memes, of empty slogans, which I believe is on the decline”. La Manada and feminism as accomplices is what was missing to hear. A decade later, a heinous rape is used as a pretext to go backward instead of progressing.

Sunday, the initial stages of the Tour de France crossing Catalonia offered us magnificent images of the country. Beyond the sporting competition and the bicycle race speeding along the roads, the Tour has a very attractive tourist aspect. Always, the landscapes adjacent to the race, especially those shown to us by television from a bird's-eye view, are captivating. Bell towers, castles, small churches, and little villages are discovered, tracing a tempting route to visit. Everything seems more beautiful. This time, exceptionally, it was our towns and cities. We saw the church of Cubelles, the beaches of Calafell and Vilanova, Olèrdola Castle, and a spectacular Sitges, with the houses on the promenade and the Cau Ferrat. Magnificent was Viladecans' initiative to draw a large bicycle with the town's name on a ploughed field to assert itself internationally. Sant Feliu de Llobregat Cathedral, from the air, gains presence. The Walden of Sant Just with people on the balconies is impressive. We saw Cervelló Castle, Colònia Güell, and Pedralbes Monastery. Barcelona unfolded before views of Tibidabo, and immediately the city's major tourist hits: Camp Nou, La Pedrera, Barcelona Cathedral, and Santa Caterina Market. With the award ceremony, they showed us the splendid views from the Fabra Observatory with the emblematic grid of the Eixample and the Mediterranean on the horizon. From the sky, the viewpoint is so epic that everything seems better. Even the industrial estates of Baix Llobregat do not have such an inhospitable appearance. The staging of the Tour is delicate and sensitive to the environment. The host's desire to please the payer is evident. The dizzying pace of the Tour has allowed us to see a kind of miniature Catalonia, where you review part of the country at a glance, which can be crossed at a speed to which the train has not accustomed us. The green of the vegetation and the colors of the crops in summer disguised a heat that is not noticeable on television. Collserola looked lush and fresh above the city.But on Telenotícies vespre the panorama changed. Catalonia from the air became tragic and distressing. A TV3 team boarded a Rural Agents helicopter to fly over the trail of the fire in the Gavarres massif. A gray landscape. The green tapestry turned black, showing viewers the extent and perimeter of the fire. Some of the burned houses were also visible, as well as patches of land that, incredibly, resisted the flames. From the air, all the technical language of the firefighters when explaining the geographical evolution of the fire is better understood.The distance that the gaze from the sky gives us shows the country in a much clearer, simpler way. The perspective also becomes much more epic and exciting. It must be for this reason that images, whether majestic or tragic, become hypnotic.

On Friday evening, Pepa Bueno closed the Telediario with a dedication to her colleague and journalist Anna Bosch, a historic correspondent for public television. A jack-of-all-trades in the profession who, after thirty-six years, is retiring. As a farewell gift, a report signed by Carlos del Amor covered part of her career and, above all, encapsulated her personality when informing. The video began in a very apt way to highlight the correspondent's demeanor. It was archival footage of Anna Bosch in one of her international reports, where she described the violent clashes between police and demonstrators. Bosch was wearing a helmet and a full-face mask that covered her entire face, with an anti-gas filter to prevent contact with the irritant substances that were spreading through the square. Del Amor began by saying: “There is something that few have, which is to be recognizable even when it is impossible to recognize you”. It is impossible to better express Bosch's television personality: from the scene of the events, covering the space and moving her arms to point out to the viewer what to focus on. A perfect symbiosis with the environment that no agency note could replace. Her reports are television history.

A year ago, TV3 reacted late and badly with the coverage of the Paüls fire that affected different municipalities in Baix Ebre. With more than 2,800 hectares burned, nine municipalities confined and with the fire out of control, the public television did not pay enough attention to the fire, especially during the most critical night. In an exercise of cynicism, the channel premiered that evening the series Delta Aquaterra, a suspense thriller that showed the landscapes of that territory, covering up the most tragic reality that was being suffered in those regions. One year later, we cannot say that the network has learned its lesson or has demonstrated informational action protocols in cases like this, unfortunately predictable at this time of year. At midday, there were still 1,200 hectares burned in the Gavarres massif and more than fifty thousand people confined in seven towns, but after Telenotícies, the recipe for Cuines's rice dish was not missing. We also didn't miss Com si fos ahir and, even less so, El paradís de les senyores, because the country is burning, but we need to know about the fashion department store's troubles in Milan.The monitoring of the fires fell to 3CatInfo, which split the screen to keep the images of the fire on the left side to offer the sensation of continuous information. At all times, live connections were made with the dispatched teams, interviews with the mayors, and statements from the authorities. Of course, incorporating the latest information on the Andic case. At quarter past seven in the evening, a caption warned on screen that there was a detainee related to the fire. With the start of La selva, in the afternoon, TV3 reactivated the information on the fires and extended the program's broadcast until the time of the Telenotícies. Atrapa’m si pots and Està passant were cancelled to prioritize last-minute live information. The format of the afternoon magazine was maintained and Xavier Grasset, mobile in hand, strengthened the connections with the different critical points, and interviews with mayors and experts to analyze the context. All this was enlivened by the usual collaborators of the round tables to fill in the service information. But they did not give up some of the planned content. In the midst of this scenario, some pastry chefs still presented us with cakes to welcome the Tour de France and did a bit of gossip with the Andic case. On La2 Cat, L’Altaveu by Danae Boronat offered a few connections from Empordà, without spoiling the celebration of the last day of the program. Between fire and fire, they explained to us how to care for plants when we go on vacation, how to prepare the car for the heat, and the team had a great time dancing to Sonia Madoc's summer song: they sang Voy a portarme mal with a shark and a penguin doing the choreographies. A little sense of seriousness doesn't hurt. On TV3, the Telenotíciesvespre had to arrive for it to seem like a first-division television.

Monday evening, Canal 33 offers us the opportunity to travel around the world accompanying Tom Waes, one of the most popular television figures in Belgium. You can catch up on some of his Unusual Trips on the 3Cat platform. Season 7 is complete, with episodes dedicated to Dubai, São Paulo, Bombay, Nairobi, London, or Los Angeles, among others. And from season 5, you can still catch the three magnificent episodes of a long journey that crosses Japan from south to north over three weeks. It's worth it. If you're not flying anywhere this summer, it's an excuse to discover the world. And if you happen to be in one of his destinations, you'll find options not listed in the usual guides.

In 2017, five women accused comedian Louis C.K. of sexual harassment. They accused him of masturbating in front of them in a professional context. The stand-up comedian admitted it in a statement and expressed his remorse for the events. From that moment on, the distributor of his new film canceled the premiere of the film and Stephen Colbert canceled the invitation to interview him on his show. HBO removed his stand-up specials and the magnificent sitcomLucky Louie from its catalog.

The earthquake catastrophe in Venezuela has turned the news into a loop of very distressing epic rescue operations. Also of scenes of heartbreaking pain from people who know they will not find their relatives alive or who have found them too late. How many rescues are considered necessary to show in a single newscast for the viewer to understand the dimension of the tragedy? One of the differentiating factors between private and public channels is the ability to broaden the perspective. In a context of chaos, ordering information and offering a narrative that portrays reality with the complexity it deserves is what the newscasts of TV3 and TVE are doing, where correspondents and special envoys specify locations and show circumstances tangential to the disaster: the situation in hospitals, the functioning of emergency services, the saturation of cemeteries or neighborhood initiatives to offer solutions in the face of a lack of food or communication systems. Private channels, on the other hand, emphasize the most emotional aspects, especially related to the suffering associated with the countdown to find survivors under the rubble. It is symptomatic how these images are offered to the audience: always with the ambient sound of the scene, with many shouts, noise of machines and sirens in the background. These are videos recorded in a context of great tension and anguish, and therefore, they have a morbid component due to the alarm they arouse.

Sunday, 30 Minuts provided a diagnosis of the AP-7 situation. The title, AP-7, on the edge, fell short of defining how the experience of driving on it has transformed since the road became free. As they sarcastically say on Toni Clapés' Versió RAC1, driving on it has become an experience akin to the movie Mad Max. It was about time journalism paid specific attention to this highway, because the degeneration it suffers is not being denounced as it should be, beyond simply reporting the traffic jams and accidents that occur there day in and day out. We are normalizing a disaster. 30 Minuts warned that the ministry had not wanted to participate in the report, a fact that betrays the neglect the AP-7 receives and the discomfort caused by the lack of investment.

The 3Cat platform has premiered two new episodes of the documentary shorts "Point of no return, by Raül Gallego. Winner of an international Emmy last year, the first episode of this season, Europe: young people and the far-right tide, transports us to the core of the ultra wave that has been so talked about in recent years. And here comes into play the second chapter: Europe: young and anti-fascist, which delves into the youth movements that have organized to confront it. The search for these realities goes beyond Catalonia and is taken to Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Belgium to highlight shared circumstances that are progressively expanding.

Thursday the Polònia said goodbye to the season with a special titled A death at dessert, which aimed to be a parody of A corpse for dessert. In fact, Robert Moore's 1976 film was already a humorous reinterpretation of classic detective films where a millionaire invites five detectives to dinner with the promise of a fortune to whoever discovers the perpetrator of a murder that will occur that very night. The political satire program abandoned the sketch structure to elaborate on a rather weak pseudo-telefilm where Toni Soler invited various characters from Polònia to an elegant farewell dinner to inform them that he would no longer count on them because next season they would be replaced by protagonists created with artificial intelligence. The disappointment of those affected led to the murder of Toni Soler, and the clones of Carles Porta, Díaz Ayuso, Gabriel Rufián, Santi Abascal, Pope Leo XIV, Sílvia Orriols, Torrente, brother-in-law Josep Maria, Oriol Junqueras, Ada Colau, Rosalía, Oliver Laxe, and the usual couple from the program investigated the case. The television proposal required an undoubted production and direction effort. And it is appreciated that they did not palm off another rehash of old sketches or musicals on us. The most striking thing was the location of the recording. It was carried out on a property so astonishingly decorated with a rococo luxury of the seventies to accentuate the burlesque caricature that the setting took all the prominence. The only reason you didn't tear your eyes out was the morbid fascination of confirming that such a house really existed. The mansion was the most hilarious, especially Soler's sky-blue bedroom. 

There is a rather comical inertia in journalism: when you need to inflate the dog on any topic you've already gone over a thousand times, bring in a non-verbal communication expert to finish the job. It's very useful. It gives an appearance of depth, of analytical insight loaded with superpowers, to explain what context and logic have already made obvious.The Antena 3 noticias team, in their voracious compulsion to destroy Pedro Sánchez, invited a professional expert on this matter to interpret his emotional and psychological state during the control session in Congress. Initially, he compared his image to that of a year ago in the same situation and highlighted that he was not wearing a tie, seeking a more informal and approachable appearance. Impressive. It is of admirable sagacity. Next, he pointed out that the Spanish president had started “quite nervously” because he was touching the papers with his notes on the speaker's podium. The newscast then created a magnifying effect on Sánchez's hand, so that those fingers automatically became suspects of any evil, even though barely any relevant movement was appreciated. To summarize, the specialist diagnosed that Sánchez was in a situation that reflected stress. It does not escape any minimally informed citizen that in recent months he must have been quite stressed.They also chose a fleeting moment when Yolanda Díaz was seen sitting on the bench consulting some papers. They decontextualized the image and enlarged it so much that it lost its sharpness. The specialist concluded that she “was focused on something else” and this meant that she was thinking: “I expect what is happening here”. Two seconds extracted from a long control session serve to demonstrate that Díaz, after more than five years as vice-president, it is quite logical that she knows the ropes in these sessions. The great analysis came at the time of deciphering Feijóo's attitude. From Antena 3, we would have been surprised by another conclusion. They extracted an image of an instant in which the PP leader moved his forearms up and down, to reinforce a statement. Just for that, for this well-chosen second, he sentenced that this way of addressing his target demonstrated "conviction and security". Of course, quite the opposite of Pedro Sánchez's nerves and stress. The hero of Congress, Feijóo. When Gabriel Rufián asked the Spanish president to look him in the eyes and Sánchez raised his gaze to look at him, the expert concluded: "Pedro Sánchez's reaction is one of freezing." It is difficult to imagine what else he could have done besides looking at him. And this, the expert used to reiterate the idea of touching papers to reduce stress.The funniest thing about it all is that the same communication expert seemed to have rehearsed his own gestures to convey security and authority in the matter. The elementary catalog on how to move your head, point your finger, and move your arms to have credibility on television. And he did it in such a staged way that the result was quite the opposite.

Wednesday morning, TV3 and 3CatInfo simultaneously broadcast the control session of the Congress of Deputies. The journalist Ares Riu was in charge of introducing the different interventions and giving way to Paula Florit to summarize each of the speeches.

Monday evening, Pepa Bueno warned viewers that that edition of Telediario was different. She gave way to images of a fire in a residential neighborhood and hinted to the audience that perhaps they noticed something strange. She then revealed that neither that fire nor those firefighters existed but that they had fabricated the sequence with AI. The presenter had the augmented reality layer in her studio removed and the table and chair made to disappear. “And me? Am I really me? Well, I will tell you that during these seconds you have neither seen nor heard the real Pepa Bueno”. And, suddenly, a second image of her, duplicated, appeared on screen to make a great existential dilemma obvious to the viewer: the doubt between reality and fiction, or between truth and lies. “Seeing something on screen is no longer a guarantee of anything,” Bueno sentenced. The second half of Telediario was a special program to delve into the possibilities and dangers of artificial intelligence.The news report warned of the risk of manipulating collective memory by altering past images, or constructing statements that have never been made. It explained how AI is used in economic fraud, in wars, and in defense strategies, and how cyberspace control works. All this was accompanied by a reflection from an ethical perspective, perhaps a bit optimistic. The apocalyptic narrative was balanced by also exposing the benefits of AI in treating diseases, in education, or in culture. To conclude, it speculated on how AI would transform the future by delving into its consequences on our brains and on population control, and by posing in a very elementary way the difficult balance between technology and humanity.It was a different Telediario, as they had announced. Experts in the field might consider the informational journey a bit superficial or unoriginal. But it made these reflections very accessible to a very diverse audience, not necessarily accustomed to this type of debate. The dissemination is intended for the most inexperienced. The Telediario perhaps fell into some very common clichés when reporting on AI, such as resorting to iconography that attributes a symbolic female face to this technology where the brain is replaced by futuristic wiring. Or using distressing images of people obeying a screen like soldiers.But the ability to attribute a volatile format to the news, with an organic fluidity in linking topics and the skill to adjust narrative forms to the context, was original. Future news programs should no longer be conceived from the studio or cameras, but from the ways viewers look and perceive. Faced with the increasingly blurred line between truth and lies, journalism that can explain itself is more essential than sophisticated journalism.

The late shows have become spaces for political claims. The rise of the far-right has activated comedians, and their programs have become zones of committed entertainment. All things considered, the format makes more sense when it is aimed at power, as a form of resistance and subsistence of freedom of expression. The problem is when the opening monologues lose their humorous spirit to degenerate into unbearable rallies to lecture the audience.In the latest broadcast of Un perro andaluz, on La 1, presenter Manu Sánchez criticized centralism, especially media centralism, which turns Madrid into the navel of the world. The first approach, even with a musical parody, had a certain charm. He sarcastically denounced how they inform us about traffic jams on the M-30 as if the whole State were stopped there, and that all street polls are conducted in Callao, where the country's emotional temperature is registered.After railing against centralism, Manu Sánchez found himself obliged to justify himself on the model of Spain he was referring to. He dedicated his soliloquy to “the seventeen communities and the two autonomous cities”, like a bullfighter when he toasts the audience with his hat. He made the classic speech about being a citizen of the world while loving your own patch: “The best thing in the world is the world, but you won't deny me that every little corner has its charm!” Of course, he championed the Andalusianism that identifies him, making it clear that it was not an exclusive sentiment: “In Andalusia, independence will never take root. Independence and Andalusia are unnatural. An Andalusian has never wanted to be the first to leave a place in his life. We have a poor reception...” And then he assured us that “Spain can only be understood if all Spains fit within it” and proceeded to list the different regional temperaments, until it was Catalonia's turn: “Catalonia, long live you! Do me the favor of taking the reins of this, you're the only one who can bravely face this centralism! But don't leave! Don't leave us alone! The Spanish national team, in terms of who has the most players, is precisely from Barça! Although it may sting many, that's how it is! [...] Do me the favor, Catalonia! Stay with us! Don't take your ball with you. Let us play with you!” Then he proceeded to recite the lyrics of a song that connected with the federalist idea of the country of countries: “Together we all fit and make a better Spain!” and, in a delirious comparison with Donald Trump, he shouted: “Make España Great Again! Great and diverse!”, advocating for a “United States of Spain. And I'm not talking about independence”. He made that clear. And he added: “I'm talking about there being as many ways of being Spanish as there are Spanish men and women!”One thing is committed entertainment, the cheeky joke with power and squeezing the news, and another is this indoctrinating nuisance. Humor disappears, that irrefutable joke's malice is lost, to end up falling into a sweaty and demagogic ideologization worthy of the most annoying brothers-in-law.

These are days for finalizing trips and buying tickets for the museums in the chosen destinations to avoid queues. Visits to great art spaces have become an obligation. Taking a photograph of the city's quintessential masterpiece, be it La Gioconda, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Rodin's The Kiss, or Grant Wood's American Gothic becomes proof of the visit. It is the guarantee of having been there. The painting or sculpture that justifies the queue and the ticket is the objective to be met. It's not so much “look at this marvel” but rather “I was there”.

For weeks, Telecinco and Antena 3 have been showing contempt and prejudice against Zapatero's daughters that go beyond reasonable journalistic interest for their indictment. Both in morning and afternoon magazines and in the news, there is an obsession with showing photographs of them. The fact that they are two thirty-year-old women who do not conform to hegemonic canons, neither aesthetic nor stylistic, provokes a morbid fixation on their image. It is not new: when they were minors, they were already victims of cruel mockery.

In 1961, in Hamburg, Paul McCartney bought his first bass guitar. At the time, the musician was only eighteen years old and the brand-new instrument cost him thirty pounds. It was from the Höfner brand, with the body painted in that classic gradient, sunburst style. Stuart Sutcliffe, the band's first bassist, had just informed them that he was leaving to dedicate himself to painting. Lennon and Harrison refused to change instruments and McCartney took on solving the problem as a challenge. He replaced the guitar with the bass and, with time and the dazzling success of the Beatles, the sound of his melodic bass would become like a second voice in the group's great songs. With McCartney, the bass became a narrative element in the songs, and it decisively influenced the pop and rock music that was made afterwards.But shortly after the Beatles broke up, in the early seventies, that bass went missing. At first, McCartney didn't pay much attention to it, but fifty years later he began a search process to recover it. “This is the story of the search for the Holy Grail of rock & roll,” a sign announces at the beginning. McCartney: The hunt for the lost bass (The lost bass of McCartney, on Movistar+) condenses the entire process of locating the instrument with the main testimony of the musician and all the people who collaborated in this seemingly impossible feat.Documentaries that explain a search are usually exciting. People tend to leave a vital trace, but objects do not provide as many clues. Therefore, the task of investigation has something epic and meticulous about it. It's that cliché of finding a needle in a haystack. We are faced with a story that progressively adds new testimonies and builds a collaborative network connected via the internet. And this allows the search to be an excuse to discover many other circumstances and people.McCartney: The hunt for the lost bass are many stories within a great story. Beyond an investigation that has a playful component and no kind of drama, it is a review of the musical culture of the sixties and seventies. Also of a range of unique characters linked to the artistic field: musicians, designers, photographers, businessmen, critics, music lovers, fans, and all sorts of individuals who, at some point, crossed paths with Paul McCartney. At the same time, it builds a portrait of this beatle. It reveals his character through his brother and some of his friends. The emotional bonds woven over the years also say a lot about a person. McCartney: The hunt for the lost bass is a lighthearted and nostalgic documentary that puts you in a good mood. A journey into essential issues but without any will to transcend.

What a coincidence that Antena 3 invited Alberto Núñez Feijóo on the same day that Zapatero had to testify before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional. A strategy to add more media pressure. The leader of the PP appeared on El hormiguero visibly nervous. Before the interview began, Feijóo asked to send a warm greeting to Ilia Topuria, who was badly beaten on Donald Trump's birthday. A disconcerting reaction considering the context of blood and guts of that decadent party. But the gesture seemed an allegory of the new evening we were about to see. The great theater of shadowboxing, those training sessions where the boxer fights an shadow, an imaginary opponent, practicing blows in the air and dodging invisible hooks. Pablo Motos acted as his trainer, a corner man devoted to the cause.

Wednesday morning was a very stressful day for the media in general and for Espejo público in particular. The control session in the Congress of Deputies coincided with the declaration of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the National Court. By the start of Susanna Griso's program, at nine in the morning, the former president, who was under investigation, had already arrived at the building. They already had the image of the day: Zapatero getting out of the car and climbing the stairs that led him inside the courts.Public Mirror had three different viewpoints of that moment. The first, a general shot, further away, in which Zapatero was seen in profile getting out of the car. The second, tighter, in which he appeared from the back getting out of the vehicle. And the third, very similar, which captured the moment he turned to wave and went up the stairs. The program joined these three scenes to slightly extend the sequence. It was a triple entry to the National Court. Since Zapatero's declaration was simultaneous with the control session, the program split the screen into several parts. But Zapatero's car arriving was an obsession, to the point that they kept the images on loop for practically the entire program: entering the National Court over and over again. Large, small, on one side, in the center, in the bottom corner, or at the top. They varied it depending on the space they had, the connections with the reporters, and the topics they were developing. But the former president was always there, somewhere or another. Between nine in the morning and beyond one in the afternoon, we saw Zapatero enter the National Court up to 286 times (perhaps with a small margin of error which you will allow me, after spending four hours watching the television loop like someone watching a washing machine drum in motion). More than seventy times per hour. From the side, from the back, or waving. Depending on the time, they also added a few images of the confiscated jewels in between, merging the scene of the car arriving with the loot from the safe. Around eleven in the morning, they offered a touch of creativity: they repeated the images again, adding a caption that supposedly reproduced the insults hurled at him by some pedestrians. Up to eighteen times they replayed the images with the addition of “¡SINVERGÜENZA!” and “¡CHORIZO!” in huge yellow letters. From one in the afternoon, Zapatero left the courts through the guest entrance, which caught most of the media off guard. But they managed a fleeting scene of the socialist leaving, which they replayed in slow motion up to 28 times. “¡Nos han jugado al despiste!”, lamented Griso, and the panelist Toni Cantó commented that the building's column had played in his favor because it partially blocked him. The pleasure of the television verdict. Then they reiterated in two boxes the arrival and departure sequences simultaneously. Zapatero twice at the National Court. The satisfaction of a job well done.

Last Sunday, Donald Trump organized his big 80th birthday party. He disguised it as an event for the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, but July 4th is still a few weeks away. The event surpassed the fanfare of any demented celebration, as it turned American institutions into a platform for entertainment and business. Trump christened the nightly boxing event UFC Freedom 250. They set up a thirty-meter-high stadium in the South Garden of the White House. The structure, which covered the building, housed an octagonal ring. It was the stage for several martial arts fights that were broadcast through the Paramount+ platform, not through a general television channel, as would be appropriate for an institutional event. Paramount+'s owner, David Ellison, is one of Trump's allied businessmen. The UFC is the world's leading mixed martial arts fighting organization. For years it was marginal and banned in much of the United States because it was considered excessively violent. It was Trump who hosted the events in his Atlantic City casinos. On Sunday, Trump treated Dana White, the president of the UFC, like a head of state. Both emerged from the Oval Office with puffed chests and paraded through the illuminated corridors and porches until they appeared on the White House balcony. As they waved, the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels crossed the sky. Then they paraded like heroes down the red carpet to the front row of the show. The fighters exited the presidential building escorted by the honor guard, equipped with flags and rifles. The spectacle was obscene: fireworks, a parade of soldiers, the United States anthem accompanied by a military band, and a jumbotron projecting images of imperial eagles. Blue, red, white, and gold dominated that excessive display as if it were an oversized fair. A dramaturgy that exuded a lot of aggression, with a recalcitrant patriotism that mixed testosterone, muscle, weapons, and flags as the backdrop for a sports show loaded with violence.The White House became an advertising platform. As in any televised sports championship, the space was full of sponsor advertisements. Beer brands, casinos, betting houses, and a cryptocurrency business managed by the Trumps. One of the images from the broadcast, which later went viral through social networks, is allegorical: Justin Gaethje, son of mining Arizona and the great UFC champion, the man who smashed Ilia Topuria's face in the fight, contemplated the painting with the Declaration of Independence hanging on the living room wall. He did so dressed in boxing shorts and wrapped in the stars and stripes flag. A fusion of politics and violence that conveys barbarism. The spectacle confirms the degradation of American institutions, reduced to the scenography of an ultra circus for business.