One of the most surreal moments of the 2013 election campaign came during a debate featuring Simon Busuttil.

In his closing statement, Simon Busuttil turned towards Deborah Schembri, then a first-time candidate, and uttered the most famous words of that campaign:

“Il-Partit Laburista għandu wrapper sabiħ. Qed juża nies bħal Deborah Schembri għax għandha wiċċ ta’ Nazzjonalista.”

Busuttil, ever skilled in the art of political digs, just kept digging, blind to the hole he was making for himself.

He turned to Deborah Schembri with a smirk and asked: “Mhux vera Deborah? Mhux vera?”

We knew what it meant and how it would be perceived. Most of us thought that was the nail in the coffin for the arrogant elite who had no issue going on national TV and telling working-class voters they don’t belong.

Joseph Muscat punched back immediately: “Aħna meta nħarsu quddiemna mhux Nazzjonalisti u Laburisti naraw, aħna naraw ħutna Maltin u Għawdxin.”

People were shocked, but Busuttil was unperturbed. He didn’t apologise.

The Nationalist Party had a clear message to thousands of its own voters in the working-class ranks: You might vote for us, your children might even have had a good education, and you might think you’re one of us, but you’re not, because you don’t look like us.

Nobody asked what Simon Busuttil meant. No journalist chased him to explain or define it. We all knew what he meant.

The 2013 election result drove that message. We’ve had enough of you lot.

Yet in 2013, this faction within the Nationalist Party remained powerful. When it came time to replace Lawrence Gonzi, they turned to the most eloquent option: Simon Busuttil.

Of course, the working class and grassroots of the Nationalist Party weren’t too happy with this. The choice of Adrian Delia to follow Busuttil as leader was a clear message: You’ve done your time.

Your arrogance was voted down again.

They didn’t.

Instead, to maintain their relevance and survive in their own party, they weaponised the Opposition. They built Repubblika, a political NGO that fits what American political jargon defines as astroturfing.

And they found their mouthpieces. Their fronts in the media to attack their opponents, mostly Labourites like me, but also anyone on their own side who threatened their political survival.

One of the voices is Kevin Cassar. He is their agent of disinformation.

An agent of disinformation is someone who deliberately spreads false or misleading information with the intent to manipulate opinions, deceive the public, or influence political narratives.

They deliberately distort a basis of truth to cross the line into accusation, often with criminal intent. The manipulation is intentional. It’s a calculated effort to cloak misinformation in the guise of reality.

Kevin Cassar is ultimately just a front for the establishment, being the son-in-law of Eddie Fenech Adami and married to Beppe Fenech Adami’s sister. His part-time role is to chase local papers for column space, helping them maintain a veneer of relevance. But it would be unfair to lay all the blame on the messenger alone.

Relevance within the Nationalist Party is what they are after. They lost some important figures along the way. Simon Busuttil left for Brussels after a record-breaking defeat.

Therese Commodini Cachia left the party after telling her district to eff off hours after being elected by them, saying she wanted to return to the comforts of Brussels.

Robert Aquilina lost all moral high ground in one night. Jason Azzopardi was voted out of Parliament. So have some of their biggest proponents in the last two elections.

Let’s not forget. Manuel Delia was a PN candidate in the 2013 election. And which district did he campaign in? The fifth.

In a grand list of seven candidates representing the Nationalist Party for this district, Manuel Delia came last. Fifth district Nationalist voters have a good nose for arrogance.

Even their social media mouthpieces, like Andrew Borg Cardona, makes Donald Trump seem refined and eloquent by comparison.

Some people told me not to write about Kevin Cassar after last week’s column.

But I couldn’t disagree more with them. He’s not representative of morality, or good politics.

In my mind, he represents the worst aspects of tribal politics and intellectual dishonesty.

See, Kevin Cassar is not Andre Callus. It is pertinent to see the difference. Callus is a fierce critic of the Labour Party. But he’s not an agent of disinformation. He’s not a hidden political operative. He’s intellectually honest. You can have a debate with someone like Andre, agree to disagree on some areas and concur in others. It’s what Malta strives for.

Kevin Cassar, on the other hand, is not intellectually honest. The deception is now out in the light and people are aware of it so much that whoever they pick on actually does better in the polls. If they oppose you, you win public support. It’s that bad.

I know this firsthand because one of the reasons I did well in the MEPs, when I was polling last just months before, is because they attacked me for supporting Joseph Muscat.

I mean look at the top three Nationalist choices for the next leader of the party: Adrian Delia, Alex Borg and Franco Debono. They are hardly darlings of Kevin Cassar and what he represents.

Alex Borg was accused of being a trojan horse and a Labour insider by Cassar just a few weeks ago.

Adrian Delia was undermined repeatedly by Cassar and the establishment, culminating in the 17 rebels, aptly self-proclaimed as Blue Heroes, kicking him out.

And Franco Debono – well, what was not said and written about Franco Debono by these people. They tried to vilify him for years on end because he dared to call them out.

If you’re one of the Nationalist MPs who either supported or belonged to the so-called “blue heroes” faction, the Nationalist establishment – call it what you want – yet failed to register even 0.1% in the leadership polls, it’s hard not to feel deceived.

After all the noise, the posturing, and the insistence that this bloc represented a genuine groundswell within the party, the numbers told a very different story.

They may have the power in the institutions, in the media, and in the echo chambers they built but they don’t have the numbers. They’ve lost the people. And no amount of spin, or opinion pieces can change that.

Sooner or later, the political reckoning arrives. And I, for one, look forward to the day when Beppe Fenech Adami, Karol Aquilina, and the rest of the self-anointed “blue heroes” are forced to stand, stone-faced, and crown Adrian Delia or Alex Borg as their “Għażiż Kap.”

Because nothing captures the tragic comedy of the Nationalist Party quite like that moment will.