Why the Brotherhood backs Biden

Mustafa Kamel

The Muslim Brotherhood has been trying to rebrand itself and come to the limelight once more since the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in June 30, 2013.

The Brotherhood turned into an outcast when former US president Donald Trump became the new resident of the White House in early 2017.

Trump adopted a radical vision that led to the marginalization of the Islamists. He just fought their extremist ideology.

Former US ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, played a pivotal role in sparing the Brotherhood regime US sanctions.

This prompted leaders in Congress, including Ileana Rose-Lehtinen, to send a letter to the US State Department, in which she accused Patterson of helping to establish a religious state in Egypt.

Recycling

Patterson met Brotherhood leaders in Cairo for the first time on January 19, 2012.

She was reciprocating to a visit made by Brotherhood leaders to the US Embassy in Cairo earlier.

Her visit was seen as a clear and explicit bid by the US diplomat to curry favors with the Islamist movement.

Patterson told The New York Times in April 2012 that American officials, who previously feared the Brotherhood’s control of the political life in Egypt, now see the group as an indispensable ally in the face of other forces, such as the Salafists.

The election victory by incumbent US President Joe Biden gives the Brotherhood a good chance to break the isolation imposed on it by the former US president.

This was why the Brotherhood welcomed Biden’s election victory.

The Brotherhood hopes Biden will remove a pending legislation in Congress that calls for designating it as a “terrorist group”.