President Joe Biden’s unexpected pardon of his son, Hunter, on federal gun charges may appear as the ultimate example of lawfare hypocrisy, but it’s really the best outcome for everyone – including Donald Trump. Despite indications that such a pardon was unlikely, Biden – who infamously declared on X in May that “no one is above the law” – now believes that Hunter was “unfairly prosecuted.”
Jail time would have kept the Biden family in the spotlight long past their expiration date
“I believe in the justice system,” Biden said on Sunday while announcing an end to his son’s legal drama, “but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
No matter the reason, ending the spectre of jail time made the most sense – despite the extra-strong splash of nepotism. The younger Biden was actually facing two sentencing hearings – the first on 12 December for gun charges followed by another on 16 December for federal tax evasion charges. Hunter, the first ever child of a sitting president to be criminally convicted, faced up to 17 years behind bars.
It’s easy to understand the outrage around the Hunter pardon. Beyond the president’s insistence that his son would not receive special treatment, the Biden White House has used the nation’s court system to enact a similarly personal “lawfare” campaign against Donald Trump. Despite the announcement last week by Special Counsel Jack Smith that he was dropping two key cases against Trump, the prospect of charges against the once and future president haven’t gone away.
Despite the legal battles still awaiting Trump, the conclusion of the Hunter Biden judicial drama is in the best interests of everyone. For Hunter, it ends the threat of jail time, but most crucially, for America it means an end to Hunter Biden. This is a man who, despite every privilege available, has burdened his family — and nation — with a list of sex- and drug- and weapons-related sagas that have damaged and diminished both the Biden clan as well as the presidency.
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America needs to move on from Hunter’s sex tapes and baby-mamas – his hacked laptops and tawdry rehab stints and apparent obsession with his own endowment. Jail time would not have allowed for this; just the opposite, in fact. Along with the double sentencing appearances later this month, his actual confinement would have fanned the flames of tabloid fodder with unprecedented vigour.
Hunter would have immediately become the highest-profile prisoner in US history, his saga consuming critical air – and air time – at the exact moment America should be spared any additional fallout from a disappointing Biden presidency. Jail time would have kept the Biden family in the spotlight long past their expiration date, a reminder of both the circus-like atmosphere that defined the Hunter saga, along with the equally chaotic final months of the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump has pledged to return to the White House in order to clean house. And Biden in the big house would have proven a distraction that would have only benefited the Bidens and their progressive enablers and surrogates. The inevitable images of his prison entry, the unending family visits, the constant speculation – a la Martha Stewart and Jeffrey Epstein – about his prison conditions the stuff of legend across a pliant and sympathetic mainstream media.
Having spent his life battling the demons of both his mother’s tragic death and contending with such a famous family, Hunter Biden has always elicited a level of compassion far beyond he deserved. Spending years in prison would have merely supercharged Biden’s nepo-sympathy on a grand and very public level. His father’s pardon provides what Biden — and the nation — needs most right now, for Hunter to fade into the historical footnote he barely warrants.
With more than a month to go before inauguration day, Hunter Biden should be well on his way to footnote status by the time Trump returns to the Oval Office. This is both a blessing and challenge for Trump. Armed with the Biden pardon, Trump can continue to press for an end to his remaining legal cases, demanding a playing field levelled and equal to the future former first son.
But Hunter’s sudden status-shift also means less focus on Trump’s predecessor – and even more eyeballs on Trump. Long saddled with his own litany of unseemly charges and allegations, Trump can now make the claim that pre-existing transgressions – like with Hunter – no longer matter. He can enter the White House with a future-first agenda, demanding to be unburdened by the past – just like the democrats he so spectacularly defeated.
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