One of the things one quickly learns when starting to analyze the world of politics is a maxim that ends up being inescapable: politics is vindictive by nature. Some will think that this is an exaggeration and that, in general, what is vindictive is the human condition. But nothing is the same, or looks the same, as politics: it is an authentic game of thrones, where the battle is permanent and there is no respite when the time comes to crush one's adversary. Probably, among the actors in the current theatre of politics, no one like Pedro Sánchez embodies this condition of killer, a ruthless politician, able to weave agreements and alliances with his leading adversary and then undo them at the speed of light when it most interests him.
In this regard, what is happening between Podemos and Yolanda Díaz with her Sumar electoral platform is very interesting. It's been a long time since Sánchez withdrew his trust from Podemos and placed in the hands of Díaz - his second-ranked deputy prime minister, and responsible for Labour and Social Economy - the hope of definitively putting an end to the space led by Pablo Iglesias, Irene Montero, Ione Belarra and others. A friendlier and more obedient left, able to move with a degree of ease through business offices, five-star hotels and multi-fork restaurants. The media juggernauts of the Spanish government have worked hard to erect Díaz as this figure and I don't think it will take long till she is seen in some magazine of the Spanish gossip press.
But Sánchez likely didn't count on the resistance put up by Iglesias, who has so far been willing to put up with the PM's invitation to remove Podemos from the playing field and humiliations like the one this Thursday with the modification of the 'Only yes means yes' law drawn up by the equality minister, Irene Montero, of Podemos, and now amended through a parliamentary proposal presented by the Socialists and voted through by the PP. It is no wonder that Montero could not hold back the tears over the reform of her star project, but the most powerful and unusual aspect is the level of public humiliation to which Pedro Sánchez has subjected his partner in government. In politics you have to put up with a lot of unpleasantness, but for Podemos, this episode has a dimension that is difficult to digest without having consequences.
There is no doubt that Podemos will make the PSOE pay for it and that it will not just sell its political space to Yolanda Díaz so that she can take it to Pedro Sánchez. The survey by the Spanish public agency CIS released this Thursday, beyond the fact that everything touched by the CIS under the Sánchez-appointed José Félix Tezanos always has a toxic layer that weakens confidence in the body, reveals both sides of the coin for the 'Operation Yolanda Díaz': her Sumar platform is ahead of Podemos, that's good news for Sánchez; Podemos in its tower resists the bloodless assault of the executive, even if it is down, that's bad news for him; the division of the two spaces does electoral harm to the left, and that is very bad news for the PSOE.
Electoral alchemy, of which Pedro Sánchez is so fond, sometimes does not take into account human factors and I am beginning to think that Podemos will not easily blow out its candles or leave the way clear for this platform called Sumar. And noise and infighting are not always good allies for an electoral victory. All this is in the ABC of politics, even if it is too often forgotten.