Conservatives cry hypocrisy after Biden bans travel from 8 African countries


Conservatives are accusing President Biden of hypocrisy after he announced travel restrictions against eight African countries.
During the 2020 campaign, critics noted, Biden accused former President Donald Trump of racism and xenophobia for enacting similar travel bans.
Despite the way it is being framed in some outlets, however, the tweet embedded below does not actually address the COVID-19 pandemic:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Instead, it was posted in response to a Trump administration policy that would make it more difficult for citizens of Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan to obtain immigrant visas. When asked by reporters what the rationale was for the policy, Department of Homeland Security officials cited concerns about passports and information sharing, not COVID-19.
The Biden campaign's official response to the policy (from which the tweet is excerpted) did not mention the virus either.
Other tweets, one posted the same day and two in mid-March, did appear to refer to travel bans implemented in response to the coronavirus, denouncing them as either xenophobic or ineffective.
Biden staffers told the Washington Post that references to xenophobia in the posts concerned Trump's record and to his use of terms like "China Virus," not to the travel restrictions themselves. By April of 2020, the Biden campaign had come out in support of Trump's ban on travel from China.
The new travel ban includes South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi and is intended to slow the spread of the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, CNN reported. The restrictions take effect Monday.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Why UK scientists are trying to dim the Sun
In The Spotlight The UK has funded controversial geoengineering techniques that could prove helpful in slowing climate change
By Abby Wilson
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everything
Feature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
By The Week US
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US