After Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies and Hunter Biden was convicted of 3 felonies, I have decided that I will not vote for either Donald Trump or Hunter Biden.
In all seriousness, we live in a remarkable moment in history, when a former and potential future president is a convicted felon, and the sitting president's son is currently a convicted felon. These two facts have huge implications not just for the presidential election, but for the future of American institutions. But Trump supporters celebrating Hunter Biden's conviction are being premature and too foolish. Politically speaking, this conviction benefits Joe Biden, not Trump.
MAGA Nation finds reason to be outraged over Hunter Biden's conviction
Following Trump's conviction, Trump and his supporters were quick to claim that we live in a “banana republic” and that Joe Biden was “weaponizing” a “rigged” justice system against Donald Trump and then his supporters. This claim took hold among many on the right, despite the fact that Biden had nothing to do with Trump's New York conviction. Yet just a few weeks later, the American justice system, this time the U.S. Department of Justice, would convict Hunter Biden on criminal charges stemming from the illegal possession of a firearm.
There could be no clearer evidence that the American justice system, however flawed, acts without fear or prejudice and strives for fairness than the conviction of the sitting president's son, proving once again that, despite the propaganda of Trumpworld, no one is above the law.
MAGA initially seemed pleased with the verdict. “GUILTY. Biden Crime Family Finally Accountable?,” Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs wrote on X. Sean Hannity jubilantly posted, “GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! Hunter Biden Guilty on All 3 Felony Charges in Federal Firearms Trial.”
But as outrage grew, it wasn't enough punishment. Kentucky Republican James Comer wrote, “Today's sentence is a step toward accountability, but it makes it clear that Department of Justice officials continue to shield the big guy, Joe Biden, until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Biden family's corrupt influence scheme.”
U.S. President Joe Biden embraces his grandson Beau Biden, his daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen Biden, and his son Hunter Biden, who was found guilty on all three counts of possession of a firearm earlier in the day, June 11, 2024.
Anna Rose Layden/Reuters
“This trial is nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden crime family, who extorted tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine,” the Trump campaign said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday. “The unscrupulous Joe Biden's reign over the Biden family criminal empire will come to an end on November 5th. Biden will never again sell access to government for personal gain.”
Trump's top adviser Stephen Miller blasted Biden's Department of Justice in an email to X. “The Department of Justice is interfering with Joe Biden's election. That's why the Department of Justice hasn't charged Hunter with FARA or foreign corruption related crimes. Why? Because all the evidence leads to Joe,” Miller wrote in an email to X, seemingly trying to link the president to his son's assets. “The Department of Justice is Joe's election protection organization,” Miller added.
But this collection of hyperbolic rhetoric and titillating language obscures the truth: Donald Trump’s crimes, misdeeds, lies and actions are far greater than Hunter Biden’s. They are not equal, and the impact of Trump’s second presidency and the threat he poses to democracy and decency are so enormous that the MAGA obsession with Hunter Biden seems all the more irrational.
In the end, this will be a tale of two convictions. In the case of Donald Trump, the charges were obscene, his out-of-court behavior and his constant attacks on judges proved absurd. Trump has provoked anger and retaliation in the weeks since his conviction.
Juxtapose President Trump's angry, retaliatory, and critical response to the American system with President Biden's response to Hunter Biden's conviction. President Biden released a statement noting his family's struggles with addiction, saying he loved his son and that he would “respect the judicial process as Hunter considers his appeal.” Biden's statement stood in stark contrast to President Trump's angry response to his own conviction. Hunter Biden released a statement thanking his loved ones for supporting him and noting that recovery from addiction is possible.
Two-thirds of Americans have been touched by addiction through a family member or loved one. My family, like tens of millions of others, have been personally affected by addiction. The situation of a loved one engaging in illegal activity under the influence of drugs is one that sadly resonates with countless Americans. How many Americans can actually empathize and sympathize with a man who would pay huge amounts of hush money to cover up an alleged affair with an adult film star in order to protect his own image? I would venture to say very few.
It's not surprising that Trump's lead among independents has fallen sharply in recent weeks. A new CBS News poll found that his lead among independents fell 17 points between March and June of this year, tipping the scales in favor of Joe Biden.
According to an ABC/Ipsos poll, 52% of independents and 16% of Republicans believe Trump should suspend his presidential campaign following his criminal conviction. That's a similar percentage of Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, and should sound alarm bells at Mar-a-Lago, given that it was likely a protest vote against Donald Trump.
Many political norms have disappeared in the Trump era, but not electing a convicted felon as president may be one of the few that remain.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, arrives at the federal courthouse with his wife Melissa Cohen Biden on the first day of his firearms-related criminal trial in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, on June 3, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The Hunter Biden political game isn't going away anytime soon. Many on the right took the news of Hunter Biden's guilty plea as an argument that he was simply not charged for the more serious crimes he was involved in. For years, rumors and insinuations about Hunter Biden's misdemeanors had been circulating in the media and political circles. It was no secret that he could be a liability to a Biden presidency.
But House Republicans have spent years pursuing allegations of wrongdoing, focusing on committee investigations and even launching an impeachment inquiry, without success. To date, the investigations have consisted of dozens of interviews and more than 100,000 documents released to committees, and Republicans have not been able to establish any crimes committed by Joe Biden. Fox News' Steve Doocy blasted the effort, saying he's heard from countless Republicans in Congress who have seen no evidence of any crimes committed by Biden.
It is not surprising that the last Congress was the least productive in history, with Americans approving of Congress by just 13 percent. While there are no polls gauging whether voters care that the president's son was convicted of a crime, we do know that a majority of Americans believed convicting Trump was the right decision.
Regardless of what Hunter Biden's upcoming sentencing will be, or whether House Republicans continue their efforts to find wrongdoing by the president, the stories of both Donald Trump and Hunter Biden's convictions seem likely to boost Joe Biden.
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