What do the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, the mayor of Junts in Barcelona, Xavier Trias, and the resigned president of Renfe, Isaías Pancho Táboas, have in common? The realization that political life is very expensive. Knowing how to take them out for a walk, as the moment demands, far away or in full view.
Some faces aspire to summarize an entire political project and can boost it, but they can also tarnish it. Others can be a repulsor to widen the base. And some, even, can be removed from the shadows to save others more politically relevant.
The suspended president of Parliament, Laura Borràs, is finding it more and more difficult, judicially and politically. Each session of his trial it becomes more evident that his friend Isaías Herrero has agreed with the Prosecutor's Office for him to spare himself prison and to indict her. Just as it is clear that the shadow of suspicion over Borràs is getting bigger and that, with each passing day, fewer people have reason to doubt the plausibility of what they are accusing him of.
Now, she, who in her day contributed to the birth of the Junts brand, in order to incorporate new faces and profiles not from Convergència (as militants), can remain there, if she is convicted. But above all depending on the management of the crisis that this would imply. Part of the credit of a very recently created party will depend on how she and the party manage an adverse result.
The Junts brand is back on stand by. It is normal, therefore, that in view of the municipal elections, where all the parties draw force everywhere from formulas adjusted to various local realities, with umbrella acronyms, white marks and others, that Xavier Trias, in Barcelona, chooses to prioritize the his personal brand to that of the party with which he will compete in the elections. To the point of putting his face on the ballot instead of the Junts logo? Your team is working on it. Iglesias, Colau, Carmena and Errejón did it before, and even Ruiz-Mateos. normal They were the message.
Just like yesterday, it was quickly understood why a face little-known to the general public, but highly valued in the back shop of the socialist universe, turned heads. Years ago, some journalists referred to President Montilla and his general secretary of the Presidency, Pancho Táboas, as "heroes of silence". People of deeds, not words. Now, Táboas, president of Renfe since 2018, when Minister Raquel Sánchez accepted his resignation over the issue of trains that did not pass through the tunnels, has shown that he knows how to make a mutis for the lining in time. That nyap had grown fat and with elections close it could reach higher.
It is one of the rules of the game of politics at the highest level. Know how to put your face, to add, not to subtract, when it's time and where it's time. On the ballot, if necessary, so that they vote for you. And away from them, in front of a big slap that involves you in the first person, so that the slap affects them in return as little as possible.
