The Spanish socialist leader is cornered by corruption scandals

Spanish socialism was involved in serious corruption scandals during Felipe González’s term (1982-1996).

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The precedent of socialist corruption during Felipe González’s term

Those of us who remember that time are very aware that González only left power after losing the 1996 elections (elections in which the Popular Party won but with a simple majority) and also because of the abandonment of the Catalan separatists, who went from taking advantage of the Socialists to taking advantage of Aznar for four years. The PSOE lost 18 seats in those elections, but the PSOE of 2025 is not the one of 1996: its leaders have changed, even more fanaticized, and so have many of its voters, who have assumed the idea that for the left there are no moral limits of any kind.

The events of recent years reinforce this idea. The PSOE has done extremely serious things that it said it wouldn’t do: governing with the communists of Podemos, allying itself with the heirs of ETA and the perpetrators of the 2017 separatist coup, granting pardons to those seditious individuals, and finally granting them an unconstitutional amnesty to erase all their crimes.

The fanaticism of socialism promoted by Pedro Sánchez

So far, Socialist voters are proving indifferent to all this vileness, exhibiting the same lack of principles as the Socialist leaders they vote for. This has been possible, in large part, because all this vileness has been indecently whitewashed by all of Spain’s left-wing media outlets, starting with RTVE, a medium paid for by all taxpayers and used by the PSOE as its own propaganda organ.

This fanatical drift is no coincidence. The PSOE has been encouraging its followers to adapt to Pedro Sánchez’s lack of scruples for years, and Sánchez was described yesterday by a former socialist leader, Tomás Gómez as follows:

“I’ve seen Sánchez take a ballot box and put it behind a screen to try to change the result of a vote. Someone who does that in front of all the PSOE leaders, just look at the sense he has of democracy and of institutions.”

A politician who is a clear case of the ‘dark triad’

With the number of scandals affecting the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party), many people will be wondering if Pedro Sánchez is planning to resign. Obviously, I’m not a fortune teller, and I hope I’m wrong in this prediction, but given his personality, it’s not hard to imagine an answer. A year ago I pointed out here that Sánchez is an example of what is known in psychology as the “dark triad”, a dangerous cocktail of narcissism (a superiority complex that leads a person to believe themselves superior to others), Machiavellianism (a lack of morals and the belief that the end justifies any means), and psychopathy (antisocial, selfish, and insensitive behavior towards others).

Yesterday, Tomás Gómez said that Sánchez only cares about “occupying power at all costs”. The socialist leader has proven himself to be an autocrat, someone who knows no limits other than his own desires. That is why he has had no qualms about lying, betraying his commitments and flouting the Constitution to achieve his true purpose in politics: to remain in power at any price, a price that he is making all Spaniards pay.

There was another famous case of ‘dark triad’: Nero

Reading history books, there is a famous Roman emperor who shared Sánchez’s dark triad: Nero. He was a narcissistic, insensitive, unscrupulous emperor, capable of setting fire to Rome and then blaming the Christians and ordering mass executions against them. It must be remembered that Nero only left power when he was stripped of it by the Senate, which handed it over to Galba, in a rebellion in which the former emperor was declared a public enemy of Rome and betrayed by his Praetorian Guard and his most loyal servants, finally ending up committing suicide.

We must remember that Nero left Rome plunged into civil war, and Sánchez is leaving Spain in ruin, not only economically, but also with an even more serious ruin: an unprecedented deterioration of democratic institutions. It will not be easy to get out of this situation, and the PSOE will certainly not make it easy for us to find a way out. The only possibility for Sánchez to resign is if he sees himself, like Nero, betrayed by his closest collaborators.

Sánchez needs his allies as much as they need him.

Another thing that has become clear is that his political allies are unlikely to abandon him, no matter how serious the scandals affecting the PSOE are and which could end up dragging them down electorally, because communists and separatists have found in Sánchez a unique opportunity to promote a change of State through the back door, violating the Constitution, a process that the PSOE has already begun with its assault on the Judiciary and its attacks on the Rule of Law, denounced a few days ago by the European Parliament.

Sánchez has a tougher time with his European allies. With his visit yesterday to Ursula von der Leyen, Sánchez was not only looking to get a photo opportunity to help clean up his image amid the socialist scandals. Sánchez also sought to make it clear who the president of the European Commission depends on to remain in office, as Von der Leyen insisted on linking her re-election to the support of the European socialists, who are experiencing difficulties after the loss of Germany, Portugal, and Romania. Let’s remember that Sánchez is currently the vice president of the Socialist International and, of course, he will squeeze Von der Sánchez for all he needs, as he has already been doing.

An increase in Sánchez’s authoritarian drift is looming

Of course, not only is there no sign of Sánchez resigning, but he is capable of increasing his authoritarian tendency to forcibly silence the scandals affecting him and his party. This process will be based on Sánchez’s favorite ingredient for governing: pitting Spaniards against each other, so that this confrontation leaves him free to do whatever he wants and avoids having to answer for the scandals affecting his party and his government.

Dark times are coming for Spanish democracy, with a prime minister cornered by corruption cases and capable of anything to remain in power. We Spaniards who do not support this autocrat must prepare to launch a democratic rebellion and resist Sánchez’s authoritarian drift by all legal and peaceful means. And I insist on this last point: Nothing would make Sánchez happier than having an easy excuse to further demonize the democratic opposition. Let’s keep this in mind when “spontaneous” people start appearing, willing to give the PSOE what it wants.

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Photo: AFP.