Biden is the American Boris

We all know which American politician Boris Johnson is supposed to most closely resemble. Comparisons between the Prime Minister and the president have been ubiquitous ever since they led twin revolutions on either side of the Atlantic in 2016. But is the idea that these leaders’ fates are intertwined blinding us to a more illuminating transatlantic parallel, not between Boris and Trump, but between Boris and Trump’s Democratic opponent? Rather than Boris being the British Trump, is Joe Biden the American Boris?

Superficially, the comparison might make not make much sense. In many ways, Boris and Biden are stylistically very different. A Boris speech will usually at least be entertaining. A Joe Biden speech is unfailingly soporific. Boris is happy to pirouette his way through long sentences, dropping classical allusions and colourful metaphors as he goes. Biden is a lot less rhetorically ambitious, despite Johnsonian fondness for digression. One is a dishevelled blond gorilla in a suit, the other is trim and well-tailored.