Messing up, Biden-style
The administration’s errors have the president’s fingerprints all over them
BORIS JOHNSON turns out to have been running a 10 Downing Street operation resembling himself: chaotic, rule-breaking, fond of a tipple. The prime minister could hardly have done otherwise. Governments invariably reflect the style and character of their leader. The Platonic city was a simulacrum of its ruler’s soul. The medieval body politic was synonymous with the king’s own body. American administrations, headquartered in a government office that (like Downing Street) is also a family home, are profoundly in this tradition.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Messing up, Biden-style”
United States February 12th 2022
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From the February 12th 2022 edition
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