Santiago Abascal wanted to rule even in the audience of David Broncano's 'La Revuelta': What will the far-right Vox do with those who contradict it if it governs?

Before David Broncano could ask Santiago Abascal his first question, Vox had already managed to decide who would listen to the answer from the theater. Spectators who had reserved their spot to see 'La Revuelta' received an email canceling their attendance. The candidate's team had asked to manage the audience, the program accepted, and an agency was in charge of the selection. When Abascal entered the Albéniz, "¡presidente, presidente!" was heard. To hear that, he could have stayed at Vox headquarters.

Broncano explained that he wanted to prevent Abascal from shielding himself with boos. At the end, he acknowledged that such a dedicated audience could validate the guest's opinions and that this showed "something that is not real". He got it right an hour and a half late. Pedro Sánchez, Irene Montero, and Gabriel Rufián had sat on that same sofa with the usual audience. The leader who boasts the most about speaking without fear was the one who needed his party to manage who would be in front of him. And 'La Revuelta' made the mistake of granting it to him.

With the seats settled, there was time for camaraderie. A jab at 'El Hormiguero', a gift of a Ceuta flag, and the idea that Abascal could have brought a box for Broncano to collect his things if the government changed. Amid laughter, the guest called what happened in Ceuta an "invasion". Broncano disagreed with the term and suggested continuing with fewer jokes. By then, Vox already had the scene that suited them. Their candidate could play nice on La 1 and slip in the idea that those who arrive at the border are an enemy in the middle of the banter. This is nothing more than the normalization and whitewashing of the far-right Vox in 'prime time' through humor, something very difficult to justify and swallow. 

When the presenter asked him why Vox abstains from moments of silence for murdered women, Abascal replied that he usually prays when someone dies. He can pray and stay a minute with the family of a murdered woman. As a public representative, his presence there serves for something as simple as recognizing that what that family has suffered demands a response from institutions. On the sofa, Abascal immediately found an occasion where he was interested in talking about protecting women. When he could accuse foreigners of bringing machismo to Spain.

In the provisional official balance of 2025, 29 of the 48 alleged aggressors of women murdered by their partners or ex-partners had been born in Spain. The place of birth alone explains little about why a man assaults a woman. What that data does highlight is the trap of selling machismo as an imported problem. Abascal also presented a woman's complaint as if it were enough to send a man to the dungeon, when arrest requires evidence of a crime and participation. For someone considering whether to report, what is important is to know what protection they can count on. Vox wants to review the law that guarantees them attention, shelter, and legal assistance. That better measures their interest in women than any speech against immigrants.

To talk about housing, Abascal again looked for the same culprit. He said that almost six million people had arrived in five years and used that figure to explain the price increase. The INE registered 4.69 million changes of residence from abroad between 2021 and 2024, including those of Spanish citizens, and about 2.5 million departures. Entries count movements and may include more than once someone who leaves and returns. The annual data for 2025 was still pending. Where did those six million people come from, then? Broncano should have stopped him there. In October, almost 3.7 million foreign workers were affiliated with Social Security, 16.4% of the total. They also contribute, pay rent, and have the right to ask the candidate what he plans to do so they can live on their salary.

"The main vulture fund is the Government," Abascal blurted out when asked about speculation. On September 23, Maricarmen Abascal was carried out on a stretcher, at 87 years old, from the house in Madrid where she had lived for 71 years. The owner was a real estate company, Urbagestión. When Congress voted in October on a decree that extended protection against evictions and limited certain speculative purchases, Vox voted against it along with the PP and Junts. That was the contradiction that deserved to stay on screen. The leader of Vox said that he himself had suffered abuses from a fund when he was renting. What protection is he willing to give today to a tenant who finds himself in the same situation? Maricarmen had a name, an address, and an eviction order. The quip about the Government served Abascal to move on.

He also said that removing taxes would make the purchase at least 30% cheaper. The general VAT on new housing is 10%, and used housing is subject to a regional tax. To promise such a reduction, it is necessary to explain which taxes he plans to remove, how he calculated the percentage, and how much of the savings would end up in the buyer's pocket. The Bank of Spain has been pointing out something much more concrete for some time. In areas where more households are looking for a home, construction is below needs, and the public housing stock is limited. Vox's response to these problems has consequences outside the set. The same party that asks to put Spaniards first has proposed repealing the decree that regulates access to public healthcare for people without legal residence. What does a country gain by creating obstacles so that someone living in it can go to the health center before an illness worsens?

Broncano's nervousness was much commented on X. I am more concerned about the ease with which Abascal was able to jump from one statement to another. When talking about the Agenda 2030, he brought up "you will own nothing and be happy." It would have been enough to open the document and ask him to point out the page. Among its objectives is precisely to facilitate access to safe and affordable housing. By saying that "the climate has always changed," he dodged the question of what is causing the current warming, which science attributes mainly to human greenhouse gas emissions. And when he attacked "intermittent" energies for the blackout, the European report was at hand. It documents a combination of voltage control problems, oscillations, and cascading disconnections. If you dedicate an hour and a half to interviewing a candidate, that data is useful for more than just highlighting it in a folder.

With Benjamin Netanyahu, Broncano came close to asking the question that interested me most all night. Abascal met with him in Jerusalem on May 28, 2024, the same day Spain recognized the Palestinian State. The Israeli offensive in Rafah was underway, and the International Court of Justice had issued new precautionary measures four days earlier. Abascal chose that day to praise Israel's "firmness" and tell Netanyahu that he would reverse the recognition of Palestine if he came to power. That was the initiative taken on his own by the man who then sits on La 1 to give lessons on how to defend Spain's interests.

In 'La Revuelta', Broncano asked him how his discourse on Spanish sovereignty fit with his support for Donald Trump and the Israeli government. Abascal returned the accusation to Sánchez and the audience applauded. When listing his conversations with Israeli representatives, he spoke of the October 7 attacks, Catalonia, and Ceuta. When Broncano asked him about the children of Gaza, the Vox leader again blamed Hamas. "They haven't died, they've been bombed," the presenter corrected him. Then he snapped that "he hadn't had the guts" to denounce it and apologized for his manners. The question that needed to be insisted upon remained. When he had Netanyahu in front of him, what did he demand from him to protect the Palestinian civilian population?

Condemning the murders and hostage-taking of October 7 is elementary. So is holding the Israeli government accountable for its decisions in Gaza. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare. An independent United Nations commission concluded that Israeli authorities had committed genocide in Gaza. Abascal had plenty of time to say what he disagrees with in Spain's foreign policy. When it came to saying what he disagrees with in Netanyahu, his gallantry ran out. Cheap patriotism.

The person he did call a "dictator" was Pedro Sánchez, on public television and just weeks before an election in which he himself is running. Fine irony. When Broncano asked him about Franco, he replied that "Vox does not have a position". That ease in calling what he dislikes a dictatorship and that caution in the face of a real dictatorship say a lot about how Abascal uses the word. And they help to understand why it matters that there is a public television where he can make that accusation and the presenter can demand that he substantiate it. RTVE did well to report how the audience had changed and to disseminate Broncano's objection. Defending the channel also means demanding that its professionals can ask questions freely, with the same audience and the same rules for all candidates.

And there the box from the beginning returns. In September 2025, Vox deputy Manuel Mariscal spoke in the parliamentary control commission about entering RTVE "with a chainsaw or a flamethrower". On Monday, when Broncano reproached Abascal for his party's accusations, the Vox leader admitted that there had been "excesses". Shortly after, when saying goodbye, Broncano told him "I'm not going to wish you luck". Abascal replied that he would, because he was going to need it. Then he said it was a joke. To me, it sounded like a warning. The party had already spoken of dismissals in parliament and its candidate had opened the night joking that the presenter would have to pack his things.

What will Vox do with those who contradict it if it governs? On Monday, with the power it had, it asked for the audience that could make it uncomfortable to be removed. From Congress, it has already spoken of firing RTVE professionals. With these antecedents, it is to be expected that it will also pressure whoever asks uncomfortable questions if it gets a hand in the network. That is why what happens the day after the elections matters so much. Whoever wins on November 29 will have to be able to sit on Broncano's sofa, listen to the question they least want to hear, and put up with it if someone boos them from a seat their party has not chosen.