No One Left To Lie To?

This post was written and scheduled before the tragic train accidents in Adamuz and Gélida, Barcelona, in which 46 people lost their lives. In light of this, this post has not been shared on social media.

Borrowing from the title of Christopher Hitchens’ 1999 book, No One Left to Lie To, criticizing Bill Clinton’s track record of scandal, is possibly the most apt way to describe Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez’s position right now. As Sánchez has essentially become what is the last Blairite in Europe, the entire Third Way movement ends in him as it started: corrupt, Machiavellian, and fueled by sleaze.

Sánchez and his nominally “center-left” government are not having a great winter. While his two former right-hand men, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán, who helped him come to power, spent Christmas behind bars, the scandals related to the activities of the Socialist Party (PSOE) have continued to emerge. Perhaps the biggest blow has been the revelation that the ex-Socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was found to have “arbitrated” a bailout for the Venezuelan and Maduro-linked airline Plus Ultra during the COVID pandemic, despite being one of the smaller airlines. The fact that an ex-head of government of Spain has had worryingly close ties to the violent regime in Venezuela has been cited as a potential security concern for both Spain and Europe, and it is no small wonder as to why the US recently ordered an international arrest warrant against Zapatero.

And, in the light of the fall of Maduro, more dirty dealings between the Spanish government and the regime in Venezuela might be pending release. Especially given the infamous “Delcygate” where then-Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez flew to Spain—in defiance of the EU prohibition on her presence on Schengen soil—to meet with Ábalos in a secret meeting in Barajas airport, where she brought with her several packed suitcases with who knows what.

Financial scandals aside—for there are many—the most recent hit the Sánchez government has taken has been the revelation that the self-proclaimed feminist party had systematically covered up and suppressed sexual harassment on the part of several PSOE mayors and high-ranking officials against several female party members. The most significant has been the former Secretary General of Institutional Coordination in the Presidency of the Government, Francisco “Paco” Salazar, who was accused of the harassment of various women members of the party, though it didn’t stop PSOE speaker Pilar Alegría meeting with him even after the allegations had come to light. Following Salazar, many PSOE mayors—José Tomé, Antonio Navarro, Francisco Luis Fernández, Toni González, and Javier Izquierdo—have all faced similar denunciations.

After the elections in the autonomous community of Extremadura just before Christmas led to the biggest electoral defeat of the PSOE in the history of the region, people are starting to wonder how long Sánchez can continue his grip on power. It’s a question that doesn’t have an easy answer since the Spanish PM has been renowned for his smooth political operation and employment of Machiavellian tactics to hang onto power. When both the dominant parties in Spain, the PSOE and the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP), effectively lost the elections in 2023, Sánchez managed to engineer his slimy way back into power through dubious agreements with minority parties, the most significant of which was the promise (and delivery) of a mass amnesty law for Catalan separatists accused of terrorism, sedition, embezzlement, and money laundering. The passing of the Amnesty Law was—in the view of many Spaniards and myself—unconstitutional and a violation of the rule of law, but the Spanish opposition found itself almost virtually ignored by both the European Union and the rest of the international community.

So much for having principles over Hungary and Poland.

But Sánchez’s maneuvering has been built, like all narcissists, on an unstable foundation of mendacity. As Sánchez has continued to lie, the contradictions have started to pile up and it’s becoming apparent they can no longer avoid their final meltdown. Sánchez has a talent for wriggling out of tight spots, but with both the removal of Maduro and the electoral collapse in Extremadura, it could be his political end is nigh. The Powellian maxim that “all political careers end in failure” holds true even when the intentions are self-serving.

But while the rumors of fresh elections have been accumulating for a while now, I'm not that optimistic about their outcome. Indeed, despite the scandals, despite the abuse, despite the uneven economic situation and the housing crisis, the PSOE still presents for many Spaniards at the least the bulwark against the possibility of a PP-Vox government. While neither the PP nor Vox have had a good time of it in their local government agreements, the fear of having a right-wing coalition government is on the minds of many.