Surprise for the PP: the idea of ​​fighting socialism with socialism does not work

Some readers of this blog will consider me a bore for pointing out the mistakes that the Popular Party has been making in Spain.

The great favor of all the Spanish parties except Vox to the illegal immigration mafias
The very different ways that the PP and Vox have of 'standing up' to Pedro Sánchez

Obviously, I know that the PP will not pay any attention to what I publish here, but that does not mean that I should not make it clear. Three months ago I praised Vox's integrity in breaking its regional pacts with the PP, following Alberto Núñez Feijóo's decision to give in to Pedro Sánchez's demands on immigration. I then showed my approval of the fact that there are still politicians who prefer to resign from their political positions rather than give up their principles and the commitments made to their voters. Something that the PP seems unable to understand.

On the contrary, reading the media close to the PP, that decision seemed like a collective suicide for Vox. However, this is not the first time that the opinion of certain media and the facts have gone different ways, and this is precisely what has happened again. This Monday, Abc, a newspaper very close to the PP, published a big bucket of cold water for that party: a GAD3 survey that indicates a drop for the PP and a notable rise for Vox, which could reach 40 seats (currently it has 33). The PP would obtain 147 seats, 10 more than in the 2023 general elections but less than the 159-165 seats that GAD3 gave it in March.

I don't put much faith in polls, whatever their results, but it is significant to see that the alarm bells have gone off at Abc, to such an extent that this newspaper is publishing today an editorial warning to the PP, criticising its lack of forcefulness against Sánchez. The criticism seems very generous to me: it is not just a lack of forcefulness that is deflating the PP's expectations, but its complicity with Sánchez. A complicity that I detailed here two months ago and that has been reflected in a series of pacts with the socialists that have ended up putting almost all the institutions of the State in the hands of the PSOE. I also pointed out then the PP's lack of action in judicial matters, while Vox took the socialists' corruption scandals to court.

Seeing the PP determined to give oxygen to Sánchez is something incomprehensible, but even more incomprehensible (at least for many PP voters; others of us are already cured of fear) is the fact that the PP insists on being a PSOE bis, assuming a large part of the ideological dogmas of the left and even voting with the PSOE to shield the socialist ideological laws, as could be seen a month ago in the Balearic Islands and Castilla y León. The message that many PP voters receive is that this party is not an alternative to socialism, but that Feijóo intends to fight socialism with socialism, which means that a PP government would be a mere change of acronyms but not of policies.

Obviously, this stupid strategy of the PP benefits Vox, which is very clear about its opposition to socialism, as it demonstrates with actions and not just with words. Finally, despite the siren voices of the media close to the PP, more and more voters are appreciating the coherence shown by Vox while fleeing from the incoherence of the PP, which has the bad habit of asking for votes from the right to stop the left, and then, after the elections, implementing policies almost identical to those of the left and even allying itself with the socialists, as it has been doing for years in Brussels.

To be honest, at this point I no longer expect the PP to rectify. For many years now I have considered the PP to be a lost cause, a party with leaders who seem to dream of replacing their centre-right voters with left-wing voters, a party that trembles every time the socialist newspaper El País scolds it for not obeying its orders, a party that no longer dreams of changing things, but of inheriting the socialists. The only real possibility of change in Spain is for Vox to obtain a sufficient majority to govern alone. As long as the hopes for change depend on the PP, we will have the same thing that happened with Rajoy: a political scam that left the socialist ideological laws intact.