
Hunter Biden’s conviction brought out the best in his dad

Summary
- US President Joe Biden's response to his son's gun possession trial verdict affirmed faith in his leadership. The last two weeks have crystallized who Joe Biden and Donald Trump are as individuals and who they’d be as US president.
On one of the worst days of his life, US President Joe Biden showed the best of who he is. He affirmed his faith in his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on three felony gun charges. And he affirmed his faith in the justice system that held his only living son to account.
Not only that, but hours after his son was found guilty, the US president delivered a forceful speech on gun control that underscored his deep humanity, decency and determination to stay focused on the problems of average Americans rather than drown in bitterness, self-pity, revenge and victimization. He spoke of hope in the face of loss, comforting those who’ve lost loved ones with his own story of grief.
What Biden said was yet another stark and important contrast with former US President Donald Trump, who appears to believe that his self-created legal problems are matters of the state. Trump has vowed revenge if he returns to the White House, and Biden has said he respects the outcome of his son’s trial.
Also read: Hunter Biden convicted of all 3 felonies in gun trial; US president Joe Biden’s son may get jail term
The last two weeks have crystallized who these men are and who they would be in the next four years as president like no other stretch of the campaign so far.
It is the old and honourable man versus someone who comes across mostly as a con artist of sorts.
If elected, Trump will probably try to wipe away his own legal problems— including his recent conviction on 34 counts of felony. He will likely weaponize the Justice Department, and spend his first days in office as something of a dictator, pardoning many insurrectionists of 6 January 2021.
Also read: Donald Trump to Joe Biden on son Hunter’s guilty verdict: ‘Don’t worry, Joe — I will save your son…’
In contrast, when asked by ABC’s David Muir if he would rule out pardoning his son, Biden said yes because he believes in the rule of law—unlike Trump.
Politically, Hunter Biden’s conviction has complicated the grand old party’s claims of a two-tiered justice system where his father is the puppet master. It has also created strange bedfellows.
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, a well-known agent of chaos and conspiracy theories, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the “Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb, tbh." The Trump campaign called the verdict a distraction from “the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family," a narrative with no evidence that Republicans have been trying to sell for the last few years.
Also read: Biden Plan to Brand Trump a Felon Is Hobbled by Son’s Conviction
An earlier draft of the statement ended with a rare note of compassion: “As for Hunter, we wish him well in his recovery and legal affairs." But the apparently vengeful Trump campaign has little room for compassion. The Hunter line was edited out of a revised statement that was sent later, according to CNN.
That Hunter Biden found himself standing in a courtroom hearing guilty verdicts was the result of his own behaviour, but it was also the result of a years-long effort by Republicans to taint President Biden.
Even if Trump’s allies didn’t recognize that Biden’s strength as a politician came from his resilience as a dad in the face of his tragic family story, Trump seemed to understand it viscerally. So much so that it seems he tried to ensnare a foreign leader into smearing Biden and his son over foreign business deals.
That didn’t pan out, but Trump’s allies have spent the years since trying to make good on Trump’s initial plot. It sounds a bit Shakespearean, but the plan was always about erasing Biden’s reputation as the grieving and devout family man and replacing it with something seedier. Hence the Republican party’s relentless focus on Hunter Biden, who has struggled with drug addiction.
This effort has proved successful in many ways. Yet, this difficult time for Biden’s family is also proof of his core goodness, his unwavering sense of decency, his enduring faith in God and his relatability, the very traits the Republican would like to obscure.
Millions of Americans struggle with their own addictions and those of family members. Joe Biden’s struggle is their struggle.
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad," Biden said in a statement. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today."
After giving a moving speech on gun control, telling the families of people lost to gun violence to never give up hope, Biden flew back to Delaware to be with his son and family.
On the tarmac, Biden embraced the son he almost lost five decades ago in a car crash that killed his first wife and baby daughter. His eyes closed as if in prayer, embodying the kind of unshakeable love, faith and hope that the United States of America desperately needs. ©bloomberg
The author is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.