Reports

Biden entered the White House on the back of a tank and ignited a wave of ridicule within Sisi’s media

Egyptian media loyal to the regime of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi focused on the US National Guard’s deployment in the streets of Washington DC, to secure constitutional and democratic processes during the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden. The Egyptian media tried to promote that the US military’s deployment in Washington was evidence that the US military was interfering in politics.

The Egyptian broadcaster, who is close to the Egyptian authorities, Ahmed Moussa, hosted a person who said he was an American political analyst and a member of the Republican Party. He said, “Washington is completely closed and turned into a military barracks, and we can say that Joe Biden entered the White House on the back of a tank.” Mac Sharqawy added, “Joe Biden came on the back of a tank … and the Egyptian parliament is better than congress … and al-Sisi is better than Biden.”

Mac compared the Egyptian parliament to its American counterpart: “When we see the Egyptian parliament and the procedural session of the oath, we can say how great you are Egypt and what happened in American democracy on Black Wednesday (storming the Capitol building) and what happened in the election of parliament through an election commission headed by judges, no one disagrees on their judgments within a decade, we must say how great you are Egypt.” He added, “Egypt, its president, walks between the workers and the guards, distributing masks to them … Can Joe Biden escape outside the heavily armed security guards? I don’t think so.”

Mac claimed that this heavily armed security would not continue for four years, and the coming period would witness events that no one expected to happen in the United States. “We must be proud of the constitutional entitlements that are taking place in Egypt, after the sight of Washington, which has turned into a military barracks,” Sharqawi concluded. In turn, Ahmed Moussa commented: “Imagine … the American army sleeps inside the Congress … why did the activists not now say that the army should remain on the borders and not interfere in politics?”

These statements sparked widespread ridicule on social networking sites, as activists questioned whether al-Sisi had reached the presidential palace through the ballot box. Egyptian activists republished al-Sisi’s motorcade videos and captured him as he headed to take the constitutional oath, as Cairo’s streets seemed completely empty except for the secret guards. No public appeared on either side of the road, not even al-Sisi’s supporters waving flags. The streets of central Cairo were completely empty in a rare sight.

Activists compared al-Sisi taking the oath and Biden, who jogged toward the crowds on both sides of the road several times to greet a prominent journalist at one time, or to greet the mayor of Washington DC at another time … or to answer a journalist’s question on a third time.

In the same context, the anchor close to the Egyptian authorities, Nashat al-Deihi, showed pictures and videos of the congressional storming and the clashes between supporters of former US President Donald Trump and the US police. Al-Deihi commented on those pictures, saying: “In congress, the police arrest the demonstrators and shoot them, and there are deaths.” “Is this not what the Americans used to deny us of? This is now happening to them,” he said. He continued, saying, “Do not think that I object to that, no … I am not against it, but this is what happened to us ten years ago, and they denied us of it.”

Egyptian journalist Amr Adib described what is happening in Washington, saying that the American capital is full of detectives who stop passers-by and ask them about their identity cards. Presenter Lamis al-Hadidi said that Washington is full of checkpoints that stop pedestrians, ask them for their identity papers, and search them.

An Egyptian journalist who lives in Washington mocked these allegations, saying that the Egyptian media loyal to al-Sisi wanted to describe Washington as Cairo’s streets under the security grip on the days of the September 20 demonstrations, for example. He told Egypt Watch: “The Egyptian media wants to say that summoning the civil administration to the army to preserve the constitution, democracy, the peaceful transfer of power and stop the attacks of those who reject the results of the elections (in the USA) is exactly the same as the army’s intervention to attack the constitution, cancel the election results and the military coup, arrest and kill peaceful protesters (in Egypt).” He asserted that allegations of people being arrested and detained in the streets or searched for no reason and being asked about their identity papers is a ridiculous lie.

The pro-Sisi media wants to tell the Egyptian people (falsely) that what happened in Egypt years ago is now happening in America and that the army’s interference in politics is natural… “This did not happen in America or any developed country.” In turn, another journalist said that the army’s descent to protect the elections and the peaceful transfer of power in Washington could not be compared to the army’s descent to crush the election results and thwart the peaceful transfer of power.