The Politics and Sentimentality of Descent

The Politics and Sentimentality of Descent
President Joe Biden speaks to the crowd during a celebration event at St. Muredach's Cathedral on April 14, 2023 in Ballina, Ireland. US President Joe Biden has travelled to Northern Ireland and Ireland with his sister Valerie Biden Owens and son Hunter Biden to explore his family's Irish heritage and mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. Leon Neal/Getty Images
Theodore Dalrymple
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Commentary

The emphasis President Joe Biden places on his Irishness is simultaneously bogus and sincere: for it is a strange fact of human psychology that if you repeat something to yourself often enough you come to believe that it must be true, especially if it’s to your advantage, and then you begin to have the feelings that would be associated with the belief if it were true.

Theodore Dalrymple
Theodore Dalrymple
Author
Theodore Dalrymple is a retired doctor. He is contributing editor of the City Journal of New York and the author of 30 books, including “Life at the Bottom.” His latest book is “Embargo and Other Stories.”
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