Dragnea was just like Zgonea, while he was keeping quiet

With Liviu Dragnea pulling on his left arm, and with Călin Popescu Tăriceanu pulling on his right arm, and Traian Băsescu shoving him from behind, Valeriu Zgonea is clinging to the seat of president of the Senate, which he is unwilling to leave, even though he has been eliminated from the PSD and everyone is drawn to this show, even though this is only the second act of the show, where the first act was far more important.

Zgonea?

Zgonea isn't important.

You could probably say anything about Zgonea, that he has criminal lawsuits filed against him, that he is just as corrupt as any other politician, that he lacks character, that he is in cahoots with the Romanian Intelligence Service, a freemason, the wrecker of the PSD, the hidden arm of the National Anti-Corruption Department, whatever, anything, and anything has been said about him at some point - what would you have expected, for Zgonea to be some kind of angel, considering he is the executive president of the PSD?!

No, Zgonea isn't someone deserving any special attention.

The "Zgonea case", however, yes, does deserve special attention, but not in this second act, but in the first act, when he was eliminated from the PSD, because he publicly expressed the opinion that Liviu Dragnea needs to step down as president of the PSD, as he had been sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years in prison, for electoral fraud.

The expression "two years in prison" is written in parentheses, because that's how the public, who is inclined to overlook it, is treating it; but to the members of the PSD, the expression "two years in prison" doesn't seem to exist even between parentheses, it doesn't seem to exist at all.

To the members of the PSD, Liviu Dragnea has simply been convicted to a suspended sentence.

And that sentence was suspended because the conviction was unfair.

In fact, Liviu Dragnea is a real hero.

Do you get it now, why the first act is more important than the second?

The PSD isn't led by a convicted offender, but by a hero.

This sleight of hand, wherein you put a felon in the hat and you take out a hero, no one could have done it.

Would the PSD have been able to pull this trick, had he not been convicted with "suspension"?

I don't know, the PSD seems pretty likely of being led by a man doing time, because the only difference between someone in prison and Liviu Dragnea is that Dragnea can attend the party's reunions without handcuffs.

Rightfully or wrongly, perhaps with a plan of taking over the leadership of the PSD, Zgonea made a perfectly natural statement: Liviu Dragnea should step down as president of the party.

Nothing extraordinary.

The normal thing to do.

Of course, when a politician makes a common sense statement, they do so because it aligns with their interests.

Still, it was the normal thing to do, overall - you can not have someone who has been sentenced to two years in prison serve as the president of a political party, once he has been convicted.

When he said that, Zgonea was number two in the PSD.

And number one kicked number two out of the party.

This is no longer about Dragnea and Zgonea, but about two numbers: one and two.

What is the result of this arithmetic?

That unless you are number one, you have no place in the party.

As long as you are not number one, said number one can kick you out, against any evidence, against any principle.

And if you don't want to be kicked out, then keep that damn political slave mouth shut, until you get to be number one.

What has happened in the first act of this political show means to say that we should abandon the idea of political party; we can have 19 million presidents - each of them with their own party.

I don't dislike the idea.

It's just that it's stupid.

This rush to get the seat of president of the Senate is nothing but boorishness.

Well, that is something everyone is god at, including the American ambassador, who came out in support of Zgonea, diverting people's attention from what happened in the first act.

I for one, do not support Zgonea; this is so you can focus on the matter.

As a matter of fact, I don't even like him.