The language of bullfighting

Spanish political commentary is filled with bullfighting language. To take the bull by the horns means confronting a situation. To watch the bulls from behind the barrier means observing a problem without getting involved. To change the tercio means changing the subject, while delivering the final blow means bringing something or someone to an end.

That last expression has been repeated by columnists after the Ceuta crisis. They argue that Pedro Sánchez failed to respond effectively to the assault by migrants, allowing the situation to become entrenched and creating a problem that could eventually cost him politically. Ceuta, in this reading, could be the final blow to the last of Sánchez's seven political lives.

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Juanito, all you are missing is dying in the ring.

Yet the myth of Sánchez's resilience remains strong. The People's Party and Vox hope the courts will help them at the National Court, while Santiago Abascal has even explored whether Sánchez could be convicted of treason. The article calls that idea absurd, while adding that the courts have not yet finished surprising anyone.

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We will do what we can, Don Ramón.

The comparison with bullfighter Juan Belmonte gives Sánchez a different image. Belmonte, a prewar legend of bullfighting, was not killed by the bulls despite taking considerable risks. Ramón del Valle-Inclán once told him, "Juanito, all you are missing is dying in the ring." Belmonte replied, "We will do what we can, Don Ramón."

Sánchez, the article argues, shares something with Belmonte because he knows how to handle the bulls that attack hardest. He may appear reckless, but his rivals respect him more than they admit. He no longer looks like the leader of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the La Palma volcano or the confrontation with Donald Trump. Still, he believes his opponents fear him, and that politics is an art in which he can outmaneuver those seeking to deliver the final blow.

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Do not look at me anymore. Tell him that bulls are not killed with punches and that bullfighting is a spiritual exercise, a true art, and that he should leave.