The backlash to President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, is going in the wrong direction. Criticism of parenting style has wound up charging the pardon system itself.
Hunter Biden is troubled. This condition is obvious in his countless drug, sex, and corruption scandals. Few were deceived by the President’s lies about such drama and the contents of his son’s laptop, and fewer bought the constant narrative that Biden would not pardon Hunter. It came as no surprise when Biden did pardon his son. Still, it seems that the only really reprehensible aspect was his lying about the intention for months — attacks otherwise are muddying the issue.
Shock and condemnation abound, based largely on the substance of Hunter’s legal absolution. He is clear of not only the gun charges but of all offenses of the past decade: Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024. It can come off as vile, as unfair that Hunter faces no jail time for his unrelenting flouting of the law. For President Joe Biden’s part, the move is particularly helpful in ensuring that he also can’t be implicated by evidence of his son’s crimes.
But pardons are standard practice and do not exist just to check justice. They are an opportunity for the president to dole out undeserved mercy as he pleases. Modern Age editor Daniel McCarthy summed up the matter:
For President Joe Biden, the choice was to rest on his laurels and disregard any other pressure. He wanted, naturally, to pardon his son, and he did so. The problem is not that Biden eschews his motto that “no one is above the law,” because the point of the pardon is that the law is not the end. What people take issue with as they decry the President’s move is indecency, either Biden’s or his son’s.
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The former is obvious: No one likes a liar, and Joe Biden has made a killing in doing so. As for Hunter Biden, criticism that his crimes do not warrant a pardon is a veil for discontent with the Biden disciplinary style. Bad parenting brought Hunter to where he is and bad parenting has brought him out. Some sort of neglect or spoiling must have culminated in Hunter’s gross and petulant habits. And now, it is plausible that a pardon might not be in his best interest.
Whether smart or ill, President Joe Biden has shown a straightforward preference for his son over maintaining the “tough on crime” or “no bias” facade that the Democratic Party tried to construct. It would have missed the mark to use politics against him for this choice had he not lied from the start. But Biden lied and in doing so, stripped the act of respectability.