đșđž This Week in Spain: Spain Meets Trump 2.0
Also ErrejĂłn reappears in court and SĂĄnchez wants to "make social media great again".
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | January 23, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #86
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đ„ This Week in a Nutshell: Trump is back and his inauguration has sent shockwavelets through Spain (i.e. âNo, we are not a BRICS member!â). Now, as SĂĄnchez prepares for a clash with the new administration and Trumpâs tech bro posse, PP leaders are saying maybe the orange guy isnât so bad.
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Laying a BRIC
Spain Makes a Cameo (or 2) at Trumpâs Inauguration
Spain was in the house at Donald Trumpâs Inauguration 2.0! Actually, thatâs not true at all. By all accounts, Spain was nowhere to be seen (except for the Spanish ambassador in the US). Even eager Trump fanboy (and Vox boss) Santiago Abascal couldnât get a photo with the orange man and was relegated to the overflow room when the inauguration was moved into the cramped rotunda because of extreme cold âčïž. But while Spain wasnât in the room, at least Trump talked about us right?
Drawing first blood. Prime Minister Pedro SĂĄnchez decided to kick off the week by laying into congratulating Trump on Twitter/X and then laying into the tech broligarchy that supports Americaâs new Presidente.
Technocast. On the day of the inauguration, SĂĄnchez used a speech in Madrid to call on the world to fight against the âSilicon Valley techno-casteâ (the SVTC from now on) that backs Trump and accused said SVTC of âtrying to use their omnipotent power over social media to control public debate and, therefore, government action, in the entire Western worldâ.
No, really, they suck. Yesterday, in Davos, he went in deeper: âA small group of techno-billionaires that are no longer satisfied with holding nearly total economic power: now they also want political power in a way that is undermining our democratic institutions.â And then he went on to quote techno-billionaire Peter Thiel as saying, âI no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.â (Thiel actually said this in a 2009 essay, and it has something to do with âthe vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women.â)
Who are you again? Trump was busy Monday so itâs likely he missed SĂĄnchezâs tweet (and thinly-veiled comments), but that doesnât mean he forgot about us.
More đŁđČ please. When asked about NATOâs defense spending, he said Spainâs defense expenditures were âvery lowâ. This is true. The current target for NATO countries is 2% of GDP but Spain has failed to meet that. (We bring up the rear with 1.28%). And Trump wants moreâas in, between 3% and 5% of GDP.
Another BRIC in the wall? Then Trump mistook Spain for a member of the BRICS economic bloc and threatened to impose a 100% tariff on BRICS countries (to clarify, the BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, along with some new friendsâbut no Spain!).
Not a BRIC! In Madrid, government spokesperson Pilar AlegrĂa called Trumpâs confusion âa misunderstandingâ as Spain is neither âa BRICS countryâ nor a âdeveloping nationâ (Trumpâs comment really hit Spanish insecurity).
All goodâŠright? While in Davos at the World Economic Forum, SĂĄnchez said that thereâs nothing to worry about because Spain is âa reliable partnerâ. He insisted that a trade war is âa zero-sumâ game and also guaranteed that Spain would meet its 2% defense targetâby 2029.
Enter the PP. The center-right Partido Popular (PP) had a different take and (surprise!) blamed SĂĄnchez for Trumpâs threats.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. PP parliamentary spokesperson Miguel Tellado said his party had the âutmost respectâ for Trump and called on the Spanish government to ârespect American democracyâ (in reference to SĂĄnchezâs digs on the tech bros).
Woke and stuff. Madrid regional president Isabel DĂaz Ayuso said that the Spanish governmentâs âprogressive ideology had led the United States to see Spain as aligned with dictatorships and impoverished nations.â
But no, thereâs more! đ
âYOUâRE FIRED!â Just after midnight post-inauguration, Trump took a moment to post a message of joy on Truth Social: âOur first day in the White House is not over yet! My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.â
And you know who he picked first, out of that 1,000+? Spainâs very own celebrity chef/humanitarian JosĂ© AndrĂ©s, who Biden appointed to the Presidentâs Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. So proud!
But whatâs wrong with JA? Founder of World Central Kitchen (and plenty of good restaurants), provider of food to those in need from California to Palestine⊠Everyone loves the guy, right? Oh, wait, JosĂ© AndrĂ©s made a mistake (or two): He backed out of opening a restaurant in a Trump hotel in 2015 after the presidentâs nasty remarks about Mexicans (the two then sued each other). And he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Biden just weeks ago. No way, JosĂ©!
Homey, Iâm not fired! But It didnât end there, as JosĂ© AndrĂ©s replied that Trump couldnât fire himâheâd already quit: âI submitted my resignation last weekâŠmy 2-year term was already up đ€·ââïžđ ,â and then added, âMay God give you the wisdom, Mr. President, to put politics and name calling asideâŠand instead lift up the everyday people working to bring America together.â Ooooohhh! đ„
Elon Muskâs âRomanâ salute. Then thereâs Elon Muskâs moment of zen, in which he performed something like a Nazi saluteâor a Roman salute, or just raised his arm to wave, depending on who you askâthat got a lot of people talking.
Funny choice. While Musk says it was totally not a Nazi thing, spokesperson AlegrĂa said âit is rather curious that he chose that oneâ.
Me too! Sumar boss Yolanda DĂaz also tried to get a little attention from the broligarchy, announcing that she was leaving Elon Muskâs Twitter/X over its promotion of the extreme right and joining BlueSky: âI will not be part of the international front of hatred.â If that doesnât get Elonâs attention, nothing will!
Not me too! Health Minister MĂłnica GarcĂa (who is also a part of Sumar) said she was staying.
More news below. đđ
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đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week
1. đ«Ł Ăñigo ErrejĂłnâs court testimony and the controversial questioning by the judge
Former progressive wunderkind Ăñigo ErrejĂłn made the surprise announcement back in October that he was resigning his seat in Parliament and abandoning politics after multiple shocking allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against him came to light. One of them came from actress Elisa MouliaĂĄ, who said she was pressing charges against him over an incident that took place three years ago
And now he gets his day in actual court. And we get to watch.
Do tell. On Jan. 16, ErrejĂłn appeared in court before Judge Adolfo Carretero to defend himself. The whole thing was a mess, from the explicit recount of his sexual encounter with MouliaĂĄ at a party to the judgeâs difference in tone when he was interrogating the actress. The footage will make you cover your face a few times in horror.
He said. ErrejĂłn, 41, said the sexual encounter was consensual and that the accusation against him is false. He explained that the two of them had been flirt-texting (sexting?) on social media before meeting in person. The online exchanges, he assures, were sexual.
Play-by-play. His testimony was explicit, with many sexual references and questions by the judge about unhooking bras (for real) and grabbing different body parts (also for real). They sneaked into one of the rooms of the house and began kissing, ErrejĂłn explained, although he denied forcing himself upon her.
Adults now. At one moment, they decided to stop because âwe werenât about to have sex in a random room like teenagersâ. She then allegedly said she was âconcerned for her daughterâ and wanted to leave the party, so she did.
BFFs. He added that he has evidence on his phone that, after that night, they continued to text each other amicably. He also claims he has evidence that she deleted her messages after she decided to press charges against him.
But why quit? The judge asked him why, if he was innocent, he decided to quit politics. ErrejĂłn responded that during his entire political career, he had always insisted that all womenâs accusations must be believed, therefore âhe couldnât fulfill that role while defending his innocenceâ. đ€·ââïž
She said. Then it was MouliaĂĄâs turn to testify and it was⊠weird. Not only that, it drew the ire of the left-ish media over what was perceived as âharshâ and âhostileâ questioning.
MouliaĂĄâs version of the story wasâas expectedâvery different (you can watch it here). She claimed she was drunk and that, at their friendâs house, ErrejĂłn gave her two drinks, adding that âhe may have put something in themâ because she felt very dizzy. She then claimed that he grabbed her forcefully by the arm and dragged her into a room, where he pressed her against the wall: âHe closed the door and made sure it was locked.â
Different style. Judge Carreteroâs questioning and tone were different from his session with ErrejĂłn. He appeared to be at times exasperated, repeatedly interrupting her and asking why she didnât pull away from him. When she said she didnât because she was afraid, he responded: âWhatâs to fear about him?â.
He did that? He also asked her: âIsnât it possible that you actually wanted something with that man, and since he didnât reciprocate, you are now accusing him because he played you?â
This last question not only made many people angry (including a few ministers) but led Spainâs Judicial Council to open an investigation into Carretero. The Council says it received more than 900 complaints over the judgesâs conduct.
2.đŠŸ SĂĄnchez wants to âmake social media great againâ
SĂĄnchez really doesnât like the âtechno-casteâ (see big story above). And he used his Big Speech at Davos on Wednesday to outline a set of three laws to beat up on regulate social media he will propose at the next EU Council meeting (Note to EU: maybe next time build your own social media and tech giants instead of just regulating those from abroad).
The proposals are (drumroll please!):
Eliminate social media anonymity. That is, ensure that social media users are traceable to a real person to stop bots and illegal actors. âIn our countries, no one can walk the streets with a mask on their face, or drive a car without a license plate,â he said (but werenât we all wearing masks a few years agoâŠ?). Instead, there would be âpseudo-anonymityâ in which your online nicknames would be tied to an EU Digital Identity Wallet that securely held your real identity, which could be subpoenaed in criminal investigations.
Make the algorithms public. The European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (which actually existsâclick the link!) would have the ability to inspect the functioning of social networks without limitations, as there are "huge downsides hidden in the bowels of the algorithms like invaders concealed in the belly of the Trojan horse." đ
Fine the CEOs. SĂĄnchezâs final proposal is to ensure that social media CEOs are held personally accountable for noncompliance on their platforms âjust asâŠthe owner of a small restaurant is responsible if their food poisons customers.â
Before we dive into whether this is even possible, itâs worth taking a look at SĂĄnchezâs speech. It was passionate, and struck some chords.
Those were the days. He noted that people were optimistic in the early days of social media. Like, it seemed to bring down dictatorships in the Arab Spring (although most sprung right back up). More generally, they allowed people thousands of kilometers apart to find community and debate ideas.
But, but, but⊠âNow, we know that the seamless and free connectivity offered by social media also came with cyberbullying, hate speech, sex offenses, privacy violations and a terrible rise of anxiety, violence and loneliness.â True, that.
Not a substitute for deep thought. â280 characters â or a 30-second video â are not enough to explain almost anything important,â he said, and social media is âmaking us replace rigour for immediacy, and complexity with brevity.â Also true.
Fake news is bad. True when fake news is fake, but while âfake newsâ is often a malicious lie, other times it can just be an opinion the accuser doesnât agree with (see: Donald Trump and, perhaps, Pedro SĂĄnchez).
And fake news is spread by bad guys. By foreign powers (he mentions Russia), âanti-system political actorsâ, and techno-billionaires.
So what do we have here? His diagnosis often sounds good, though the motive may be a little self-interested (SĂĄnchez says the investigations into his wife, brother and attorney general are based on âfake newsâ; courts have yet to agree). And his solutions?
A little Orwellian? Whistleblowers, dissidents and people living under dictatorship survive on anonymity. That they will trust an EU Digital Identity Wallet to never be hackedâor never be opened when their criticism is classified as a crimeâseems more than doubtful.
Maybe too hopeful. Open algorithms sound great. Algorithms also sound like a social media businessâs trade secrets. So maybe if social media becomes a public service? (That somehow does not sound fun.)
Soak the rich. CEO fines sound great tooâbut incredibly hard to do. Good luck!
At least he had a good line! "Let's take back control,â SĂĄnchez said, mimicking Donald Trumpâs campaign slogan. âLet's make social media great again,â he said as the audience in Davos laughed and applauded.
3. đ„ TelefĂłnica bossman sent packing
Chief executives arenât usually fired with no advance notice except in Russia, where they mysteriously fall from windows. But this week Spain made a surprise bid for the âPutin Pushâ trophy with the sudden ejection of TelefĂłnica CEO JosĂ© MarĂa Ălvarez-Pallete.
Thatâs unnerving. On Friday, Pallete was told his presence was required in La Moncloaâyou know, the official residence and workplace of PM SĂĄnchez. There, he sat down with SĂĄnchez confident Manuel de la Rocha, Spainâs Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (the Spanish state holds 10% of TelefĂłnica through SEPI, a kind of Spanish sovereign wealth fund); Ăngel SimĂłn, CEO of Criteria Caixa (a fund that owns 10% of TelefĂłnica); and a representative of STC Group (Saudi Telecom), which also owns 10%:
Donât let the door hit you. Thatâs when SimĂłn reportedly told him that TelefĂłnicaâs top shareholders had decided the company needed a âmajor restructuringâ and had âlost confidenceâ in his ability to lead it. Pallete accepted his fate, it seems, and tendered his resignation instead of mounting a fight. As the Pixies would say, âHe was gone the next day. They were so hush-hushâŠâ
What theâŠ? Thatâs what we said too! There are plenty of theories, but no one who knows the whole story is talking. Still, there are several viable theories.
The business sorta sucked. TelefĂłnica was Spainâs state telephone utility, and Pallete had never gotten rid of that musty old bureaucracy smell. Since he took charge in April 2016, company shares have lost about 70% of their value (note to non-investors: thatâs bad) and Bloomberg reports that SĂĄnchez, âââhad grown frustrated with Palleteâs reluctance to invest in new technology and innovation.â
Scary Saudis. The whole ball started rolling in September 2023 when, as we told you here, the Saudi government-controlled STC made the surprise announcement (as in it surprised both Pallete and SĂĄnchez, who blamed Pallete) that it had become TelefĂłnicaâs biggest shareholder. This freaked out the government because, you know, Saudi is a dictatorship and TelefĂłnica is a defense contractor, so Spain bought its own 10% slice. With its new stake, it had to flex.
Politics. Pellete apparently had the temerity to advertise TelefĂłnicaâs products in the wrong media (and we know how SĂĄnchez doesnât like media that doesnât agree with him). In the words of Bloomberg, one reason for Sanchezâs move against Pallete was his âfrustration with the company for using its publicity budget to advertise in right-wing news outlets.â
What happens now? Palette has been replaced with Marc Mutra, a former Socialist Party official whoâs close to SĂĄnchez who served as the chair of Indra, a defense contractor also partially owned by the state. The government reportedly wants TelefĂłnica and Indra to merge to create a defending contracting champion for Spain.
Why canât we all be right? In the end, the move could be one to make TelefĂłnica more innovative, merge it with Indra, and increase the power of the PSOE in businessâall at the same time.
SĂĄnchez opponents angry. PP boss Alberto Nuñez-FeijĂło said governments canât pick private company CEOs (he probably should have said they shouldn't), and TelefĂłnica shares dropped, probably over fears of government interference.
Put simply. âItâs now clear that the governmentâs decision to invest in TelefĂłnica was not purely an economic one but rather a political decision to control one of the countryâs largest companies,â said Dunas Capital investing chief Alfonso Benito.
4. đ Ladies, put down that beer!
Might be time to extend that Dry January. Spainâs traffic authority, the DGT, will be lowering the maximum blood alcohol content for drivers from 0.5 g/L to 0.2 g/L sometime during 2025, after parliament passed a proposal to do so in October.
How low is that? This will give Spain pretty much the strictest drunk driving laws in Europe (as pretty much every news outlet who covered the story this week noted), removing it from the âparty partyâ group of France, Germany, Italy and Portugal, and putting it in with Norway, Hungary and Romania.
No woman, no beer. The most eye-catching aspect of the change has to do with body weight. Under the 0.5 rules, an average-sized woman could have one drink before driving. Now that effectively falls to zero.
Seriously, like none. "With the new rate, you won't be able to drink anything at all," said Pere Navarro, director of the DGT. "The debate about whether you can drink one beer or two or one wine or two is absurd. You can drink whatever you want, but if you're going to drive, no."
For homicidal drivers, thereâs always the U.S. During his inauguration, Donald Trump talked about renaming the Gulf of Mexico, but said nothing about changing the DUI limit during the New Golden Age. As long as Kid Rock is out shooting Bud Light cases, we have our doubts he will.
But thatâs a bit high, no? The U.S. federal limit for Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is a comparatively louche 0.8 g/L, though some states have lower limits. Because of American exceptionalism, however, itâs expressed as 0.08% (Why? See feet, pounds, and Fahrenheit). The National Transportation Safety Board advocates for a limit of 0.5 g/L or 0.05%, which would get it to where Spain is now. So if you live here in Spain, you are allowed to feel superior. Or at least safer.
Spainâs road safety push. Spain got serious about road safety decades ago, and over the last 30 years, Spain has cut road deaths by 80%, from 9,344 in 1989 to 1,755 in 2019. So the next time someone complains about driving in SpainâŠwell, see chart above.
5.đ° The AEMET Towerâs renovation gets a big đ
Frankenstein tower. This weekâs newsletter has been heavy on politics so letâs change the subject to architectural terror: the so-called âFrankensteinâ tower in Retiro Park. No, Dr Frankenstein doesnât live in it, but after a much-needed renovation, its current combination of different structural styles makes it, um, look real ugly. đč
At least thatâs what the architects say. And thatâs creating a big ruckus between the Madrid City Council and Spainâs Meteorological Agency (AEMET) because itâs unclear whoâs to be blamed for this monstrosity.
A tower is born. It all began in 1850 when the tower was built to serve as the site of Spainâs first optical telegraph, which was run by the Astronomical Observatory. The city built it on the highest point in Retiro to make sure it had clear visibility.
đ đ°. The building is located near a small pond that was used by zoo elephants for bathing, so since then the tower has been known as âElephant Castleâ, which sounds like an area in London but, trust us, itâs not.
Empty. The tower was vacated in the late 1990s and remained empty and forgotten until 2011 when the AEMET launched a public competition to renovate the building. The first permit was approved inâŠ2018 (yay, bureaucracy!).
Angry architects. Now that the renovation is complete, many people are upset with itâespecially the architectâs collective Nexo Coam, which filed a complaint with the Urban Planning Discipline saying that âthe final result of the project does not match the original planâ and that âtheyâve created a Frankensteinâ. (Yes, there are memes).
Ruh-roh! The âuglyâ parts of the building include a square elevator structure on top of one of the towers thatâs supposed to be round, an ungodly roof pergola that was supposed to be âlight and transparent glass,â and air conditioning units that, considering itâs from 1850, shouldnât be visible.
We know nothing! AEMET, however, blames âtechnical constraintsâ and they claim that the City Council had previously said everything was dandy.
If you want to go see it for yourself, head over to the Retiro Park. The architects are right. Itâs ugly.
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