THE REPRESSION IS WHY THE rIGHT ROOTED HIM ON:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi achieved something impressive in the last few weeks: He made remarks that, in their loopiness, managed to outdo U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign rallies. In a televised address he declared, "The situation was this way, we were this way, and despite it being this way, we went this way. That is the miracle." Then, a few days later, while imploring Egyptians to lose weight and exercise more, he added, "Even in the media we have to choose guests who take care of their bodies."

One has to wonder whether Sisi is cracking under the extraordinary pressure of being in charge of a country that seems to be ungovernable. No doubt he has established some political control since coming to power, but it is hard to make the case that Sisi is actually governing. In the last six months, Egyptians have been forced to endure a potato shortage and water scarcity. Instead of addressing the issues that the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing recently highlighted, the government attacked her and the people she interviewed in the course of her research.

In the most basic sense, Sisi faces a crisis of authority; he seems incapable of using the authority he already wields. His supporters are now moving to solve that problem by giving him more. They want to amend the 2014 constitution either to extend the president's term in office or possibly abolish presidential term limits entirely. Egyptian officials and Sisi's supporters previously vowed that this would never happen. They claimed that Egypt had changed. No one believed them--and their skepticism was clearly justified. 

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