In this tome, Fernando Sánchez Dragó interviews Santiago Abascal, Spain’s version of Trump or Bolsonaro. The writer suffers from an acute case of conceited self-importance and that doesn’t help much in moving things along as he gloats repeatedly at his foresight in predicting Vox’s, the extreme right party, triumph in Southern Spain and warns the reader that all of the party’s ideas had been long defended by him in the first place. In short, Dragó is an imbecile and the reader will learn more about him in this panflet than about his interviewee.
I was hoping to glean some nuggets about Abascal’s flavour of nationalism but nothing came of reading this. Abascal admits to not being a politician. He comes across surprisingly humble admitting, for example, to not knowing much about foreign affairs ( the ascent of China’s amoral conquest of African resources for example). Apparently his dream lies in living among the woods, hunting and riding horses. His interest in the “petty” nuisances of governing: urban planing, school schedules, etc... is minimal. He prefers to live in the world of grand ideas and proves he is already inhabiting a world far from the daily worries of Spaniards even if he is in tune with their fears. To make Spain one, as in a singlew unit, is at the forefront of his agenda. Globalism, political correctness, feminism and the EU are just some of his targets. He seems not unlikable and he is skilled enough to dodge some of the most barbed -let’s call them questions- the writer tries to entangle him with.
Dragó is a sympathizer, he is even more extreme in his positions as he advocates the `Far West´s´ ethos of each one fending for herself, a sort of darwinian paradise. He plays the role of poking the bear with his confessions of atheism and libertine behaviour to set himself in contrast with Abascal’s straight-laced demeanour. Sanchez Dragó is an intellectual of the “droit divine”- very much like the intellectuals of the “gauche divine” used to be, formulating edicts that probably won’t affect him much but would make life untenable for many. He has a central planner mindset despite his protests of freedom. Even Hayek would have seen through his false “ laissez faire” and pedantic quotes which are carefully selected from authors of all political persuasions.
We learn that Santiago Abascal was awakened into action at the tender age of nine when an ETA attack killed a beloved postman in his town of Amurrio, in Alava. He considers himself Castilian, even when he was born Basque because he considers Basques are part of the larger Spanish entreprise. Ok, I'd agree with that. We also learn that the thrust of his inspiration is an emotional attachment to the land. He favours banning all abortions ( he is a Catholic), removing all illegal immigrants, subsidizing bullfights and eliminating gay marriage among other things. Abascal’s answers to some questions are a swamp of contradictions. In page 78 for example he advocates adapting to new times with new ideas and strategies. Shortly after he strongly defends following his parents values and customs. His support for bullfighting is undermined by his desire to end subsidies for the film industry, specially if it doesn't jive with an exalted idea of Spain. Frankly, I hear him, I am also fed up of BAD Spanish Civil War films. Dragó glides through it all enamoured by his own wit and paying no heed to these incongruous bits. A Latin phrase here, a literary quote there just to show off his "man of letters" credentials. He is insufferable.
Nothing is treated with much depth. Education ( Abascal supports a Parental ID to monitor the contents of children’s involvement), hunting and fishing, the environment... (Abascal is not a climate change denier), the European Union ( Abascal supports some version of it and did confront Salvini’s interference with the Catalan question), defence ( Abascal is ok with humanitarian missions and all that as long as there is also plain killing, no problem there), weapons (he believes in the right of private citizens to own them ) etc.. In conclusion, I can´t see he is completely off keel but nothing won me over. However, if Dragó, the douche, ever became a President, I’d flee.