In a shameful end to a pathetic political career spanning over half a century, President Joe Biden announced he would be pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, the erstwhile crack-addicted purveyor of prostitution described by the president as “the smartest man” he knows.
“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” Biden declared in a statement. “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.”
Where to begin? There’s the absurd claim that Biden’s own Department of Justice’s supposed impropriety bordered on a deliberate attempt to drive Hunter Biden back into the clutches of drug abuse. There’s the Biden trademark of stunning hypocrisy, with this pardon standing as the latest of countless lies in a career addled with deceit after Biden declared just months ago that “no one is above the law” and pledged not to pardon Hunter in the dying days of his administration.
“For my entire career, I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth,” Biden laughably concluded before pardoning Hunter “for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.”
The breadth of Biden’s pardon conveniently covers his time as vice president, coincidentally including Hunter’s ascension to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in April 2014. The big story here, however, is not that a member of the Biden crime family has repeated their decadeslong habit of lying to the American people to protect their ill-gotten wealth. No, it is the collusion among those who still claim to be the ultimate arbiters of truth: our dedicated media class.
“Republicans say Biden is a ‘liar’ after he pardons Hunter, his son,” reported Politico. As commentator Mary Katharine Ham pointed out, the inclusion of quotation marks depends solely on party affiliation, given that Biden announced in June, “I will not pardon [Hunter].”
Of course, there was a return to good old-fashioned ‘whataboutism’, with David Corn of Mother Jones and MSNBC rejecting any and all complaints about Hunter Biden’s pardon “unless you also complained about the Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Paul Manafort pardons.”
Remember: All pardons are created equal, but some are much more equal than others.
And worst of all, there were the soporific sycophants who gleefully carried water for the president, working to convince us all that Joe Biden is principled and would never, ever, ever pardon Hunter.
Journalist John Harwood, for example, declared in June, “People who insist Biden will pardon Hunter after specifically ruling it out are telling on themselves. They can’t imagine someone acting on principle and keeping his word.”
Any update on this, John?
The legacy media’s job is to lie for the Biden administration and stay silent when Joe Biden publicly humiliates them afterward.
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Finally, there is the ultimate lie: that Joe Biden is acting out of love for his son. Right, nothing demonstrates a deep love for your child more than letting your drug-addict son gallivant around the world while making millions of dollars on your name, ostensively demanding a 10% cut for an unnamed “Big Guy,” and then giving him 11-year immunity from federal prosecution in the final days of your presidency.
Flanked by a dedicated gaggle of shameless media propagandists, Joe Biden is as free as Hunter to deliver his final insult to the American people.
Ian Haworth is a columnist, speaker, and podcast host. You can find him on Substack and follow him on X at @ighaworth.