Dispatch from Cairo: Egypt's president is under attack from all sides

Goodbye, consensus. Hello, violence

Anti-Morsi protesters shout slogans in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Feb. 1.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Seven months after he was elected amidst celebrations and optimistic expectations, President Mohamad Morsi and his Islamist Freedom and Justice party are finding themselves increasingly embattled and isolated.

Morsi's much-lauded panel of advisors, initially made up of 21 luminaries from across the political spectrum, has been hit by a spate of resignations and dismissals, and has lost over half its members. The secularists and Christians began leaving late last year, complaining that Morsi was increasingly partisan and authoritarian. Now over the past week, ultra-conservative Salifi members of the council have been resigning as well, for once agreeing with their liberal rivals.

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Jake Lippincott earned a degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Hampshire College. He worked in Tunis during the popular uprising there, and is now based in Cairo.