Delegitimized since the primaries

The revelation in the UCO report that Santos Cerdán rigged the PSOE primaries highlights the original sin of Sanchismo and many of the misfortunes that followed. The order from Santos Cerdán, the resigned PSOE Organization Secretary, to Koldo García—"without anyone seeing you, insert two ballots"—adds to the suspicions of corruption within its core and portrays a toxic way of doing things in which the lust for power overrides respect for the most basic rules. It seems obvious that if one doesn't respect the rules to gain power, one will also violate them to retain it. The rigging of the internal elections offers a privileged historical perspective on Pedro Sánchez and the milestones of his government: the irresponsible opposition, the electoral lies, the betrayal of Spain through the spurious amnesty for the separatists, the pacts with Bildu, the colonization or destruction of all institutions, and the rest of the examples of the utter lack of scruples that have marked his last seven years in power.

Pedro Sánchez appeared before the media yesterday, after avoiding them for 44 days because he had no other choice. And he did so at the PSOE headquarters, not at La Moncloa Palace, to present himself as a contrite man, feigning humility when apologizing to the citizens on behalf of the party and confessing that he, too, had been deceived—until that very morning—by Cerdán, incriminated by the UCO (Union of the Workers' Union). However, his arrogance quickly returned to his responses when he saw that his strategy of containing the crisis, resolving it through an "external" audit, and insulating the government from scandals was threatened by journalists' questions. That's when he blurted out that he would not call early elections because "this has nothing to do with him or the party."

But Moncloa is under siege on two fronts, about which extremely serious news is emerging today. One of them is the economic corruption that the Civil Guard report intensifies. All the contracts allegedly rigged in the government since he came to power, the bribes allegedly received, and the rest of the scandals affect his family, his ministers, and those who led his party, including his last two Secretaries of Organization. Such is the closeness of these two people responsible for the misdeeds to the president himself that it seems impossible to open a firewall between them, not even through the convoluted manipulations Moncloa is accustomed to.

The dates of the actions described in the report do not point to corruption, which appears to be an inevitable distortion of the exercise of power, but rather a way of life since its very arrival. The group's classification as a criminal gang radiates throughout the organization, and it is not difficult to determine its limits. Not even Sánchez himself was able this Thursday to flatly deny illegal financing. The situation is agonizing for the president. His immune system is crumbling, and he is now exposed to the elements, as Ábalos and Cerdán are what they are because of him, right from the 2014 primaries. The blame here is drawn from the lack of responsibility "in eligendo" and "in vigilando."

The second front undermines the legitimacy of his origins, which gives meaning to everything that followed. The alleged audacity of Sanchismo, vaunted by his supporters, also served to loosen his inhibitions when it came to breaking the most basic rules of an election. The disregard for his own party members precedes the lack of respect for Spaniards in general. Here, too, distrust is expansive: if we can't trust the primary elections, should we doubt the outcome of the general elections? The reports that Santos Cerdán and Koldo García schemed to cheat in the primaries against Eduardo Madina speak of the moral plundering of a party they gained access to through a coup, and this marks the anti-democratic origins of Sanchismo. Misuse of power is in its very DNA. The rigging of the PSOE primaries places the head of government in a terrible historical perspective in which a party and a leader come to power in the name of the fight against corruption and embody corruption in its deepest essence. Everything that has happened since then is explained in a dark revelation, with a single sentence: "Put two ballots in and don't let anyone see you."