Biden the Pragmatist

“INCONSISTENCY” is a term you hear a lot these days from critics of US President Joe Biden. They fault him for changing his mind on policy issues, as though having second thoughts about one’s plans is a sign of lacking a moral backbone.

More recently, Biden has been criticised by left-wing allies for using an executive order to temporarily close the United States border, despite longstanding guarantees that anyone who steps onto US soil has the right to ask for protection in America.

Biden’s announcement was a stunning reversal for a president who had blasted his predecessor in office for using a similar executive order to end asylum for refugees. “Echo of Trump as Biden acts on the border” read a headline in the print edition of The New York Times.