What do the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, the mayor of Junts in Barcelona, ??Xavier Trias, and the resigning president of Renfe, Isaías Pancho Táboas, have in common? The confirmation that political life is very expensive. To know how to take them for a walk, as the moment demands, far away or in full view.
Some faces aspire to summarize a political project and can promote it, but they can also stain it. Others can be a boost to broaden your base. And some can even be brought out of the shadows to save others that are more politically relevant.
The suspended president of Parliament, Laura Borràs, has it increasingly difficult, judicially and politically. Each session of her trial makes it more evident that her friend Isaías Herrero has agreed with the Prosecutor’s Office to save him jail time and to frame her. Just as it is evident that the shadow of suspicion about Borràs is growing larger and that, with each passing day, fewer people have reasons to doubt the credibility of the substance of what they accuse him of.
Now, she, who in her day contributed to the birth of the Junts brand, in the key of incorporating new faces and profiles not coming (as militants) from Convergència, can subtract, if she is convicted. But above all depending on the management that is made 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 know how to manage an adverse result.
The Junts brand is back on standby. It is normal, therefore, that in the face of the municipal ones, where all the parties throw everywhere formulas adjusted to diverse local realities, with umbrella acronyms, white brands and others, that Xavier Trias, in Barcelona, ??chooses to prioritize his brand staff to that of the party with which it will be presented. To the point of putting his face on the ballot instead of the Junts logo? His 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 the head of a face little known to the general public, but highly valued in the back room of the socialist universe, rolled. Years ago, some journalists referred to President Montilla and his Secretary General of the Presidency, Pancho Táboas, as “heroes of silence.” People of deeds, not words. Now, Táboas, president of Renfe since 2018, when the minister Raquel Sánchez has accepted his resignation due to the issue of the trains that did not pass through the tunnels, has shown that he knows how to leave the forum on time. That botch had become big and with elections nearby he could get to stain higher.
It is one of the rules of the game of politics at the highest level. Knowing how to face, to add, not to subtract, when it’s time and where it’s time. On the ballot, if necessary, to vote for yours. And away from them, before a big slap that involves you in the first person, so that the setback affects them as little as possible.