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A grand jury in Delaware on Thursday indicted Hunter Biden on three gun charges, thereby effectively ending his White House ambitions.
Just kidding, of course. First of all, he is a private citizen who isn’t running for anything (other than “worst son of a president” perhaps), and even if he were, getting indicted a few times is obviously no longer a deal breaker for presidential candidates.
But before we examine the absurdity of the situation, let’s first look at what happened today.
A few weeks after a plea deal with federal prosecutors fell apart that would have spared the president’s son from going to jail, he now faces charges that could see him end up in prison.
Specifically, he is charged with lying on a form when trying to purchase the gun and illegally owning a firearm as a drug user.
Seeing how Hunter Biden described his addiction to crack cocaine at the relevant time in his memoir, the facts aren’t really in dispute.
And, of course, if he is convicted, then he should be punished. That’s the whole point of having a rule of law — it should apply to everybody, including a rich white man whose dad is president (or who may even have been president themselves).
In that regard, the irony of the situation is breathtaking. First of all, Republicans want everybody to have guns, so they don’t think it should be a crime in the first place. In addition, while the GOP has been railing about “two tiers of justice” that somehow favor Hunter Biden, it is quite possible that he would not have been charged if he weren’t the president’s son.
Now, you’d think that Republicans would be happy with this development. After all, they have spent considerable time and resources on pursuing Hunter Biden, who, it bears repeating, is a private citizen who is not running for anything.
Far from it.
Right-wing firebrand Matt Gaetz (R-FL), for example, said “getting Hunter Biden on the gun charge is like getting Jeffrey Dahmer on littering,” which isn’t hyperbolic at all.
Plenty of other Republicans suggested that the indictment was a “distraction” meant to draw attention from the impeachment proceedings House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) initiated this week. That doesn’t really make sense since the GOP hasn’t provided any evidence yet tying President Joe Biden to an impeachable offense.
What does make sense, however, is the reaction from some leading Democrats, who said that, of course, Hunter Biden should be punished if found guilty.
“The reality is that I, as a Democrat, am saying that, if Hunter Biden, the president’s son, committed crimes, he should be held accountable for them,” said Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY).
He then pointed out the key difference between Democrats and Republicans, who like to call themselves the party of law and order.
“You don’t hear any Republicans saying that, if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be held accountable for them,” he added.
This is also a point that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) made when comparing Biden and Trump, who has been charged with 91 felonies, most of which were much more serious than the crimes the president’s son is accused of.
“The presumption of innocence operates for both of them, due process rights operate for both of them. We shouldn’t take delight in other people’s misfortunes,” said Raskin. “But we have to have a rule of law and when people commit crimes then the consequences follow.”
That’s obviously not how most Republicans feel. They seem to think that Trump should be allowed to get away with anything, but they won’t rest until Hunter Biden is guillotined live on Fox News.
