Why the Brotherhood backs Biden
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".