When only you can lose the election

It's rare for the leading bull in a bull run to turn around and charge the runners. It happens more often with lagging bulls. But not with the first one.

I've been following the San Fermín running of the bulls every July since I was a child. A family tradition my father instilled in us, I'm not quite sure why. Sometimes I think it was so we'd get up early during those first weeks of school holidays. Now, although we no longer live together, we maintain the tradition and discuss the event to the surprise of people who have entered our lives. Do you get up to watch the running of the bulls? Yes. And I try to justify myself, because this kind of savagery isn't as popular as it was in the 1980s. And yes, a running of the bulls is always better than a bullfight, but what's the point of walking the bulls from the corrals to the ring, chasing hundreds of young men who risk getting a good scare in exchange for the run of their lives in front of a giant bull?

Over time, I've come to recognize runners who are true athletes. Lately, they've been wearing soccer team jerseys and that's how they stand out in the crowd. Betis, Atleti, Athletic Club, Llevant, Barça, Valladolid. Spain from north to south, from east to west, pursued by a bull in a hurry to get to the bullring and be left alone.

The bull runs are getting shorter and cleaner. They can handle it in two and a half minutes. I've even seen 12- and 15-minute bull runs, back when everything was less regulated, when cars didn't have seatbelts, and people smoked on planes.

After the race, commentators analyze the most spectacular moments like someone reviewing a penalty in the VAR. Few events end with a doctor reporting injuries. Television during San Fermín has normalized the image of the doctor surrounded by microphones discussing gorings or multiple trauma injuries from falls.

Feijóo acted as a lagging bull, who turns around to charge, at the expense of brothels, whatever...

At the PP congress, while the PSOE was bleeding from a goring that had taken several forms, we saw the pack united. All as one, which is what happens when power is close. Neither President Díaz Ayuso nor the two former presidents, Aznar and Rajoy, the former receiving much more applause than the latter, wanted to sour the path ahead for Núñez Feijóo. However, Aznar couldn't help but launch his new slogan: from "whoever can do it, let it be done" we have moved on to "whoever can be imprisoned, let it be imprisoned."

Feijóo was the most elegant member of his party. He had a presidential air that wouldn't fit in at Ifema. Centrist, catch-all airs, like Aznar in '96.

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But two days later, something happened. In the debate on the Cerdán case in Congress, Feijóo wanted to be the toughest. On Sunday, he was Dr. Jekyll, and on Wednesday, Mr. Hyde. Feijóo arrived at that debate as a clear contender for the presidency of the Moncloa, even if he won't get it now. He's the bull at the head of the pack. It's been a while since someone had such a chance of reaching the top, seeing how the Socialists update the right-wing press websites every five minutes, let's see how long the UCO (University of Catalonia) can keep them alive.

But Feijóo acted like a lagging bull, turning around to charge, despite the efforts of saunas, brothels, and whatever else it took. These are some ugly words coming from someone who already sees himself presiding over the country. Why did he do it when he could have left that job to his subordinate, Tellado? Because when you already see yourself arriving first, entering the ring as the winning bull of the running of the bulls, when you're the big favorite, there's a shiver that runs down your spine. Only you can lose. And that must be very scary.