Share
Commentary

Watch: Smirking Biden Sends Republicans Message as Post-Election Investigations Loom

Share

I know any father wants to defend some offspring, but President Joe Biden needs to face some uncomfortable facts about his relationship with his infamously wayward child.

Robert Hunter Biden has spent the better part of his adult life as a drug-addicted, morally bankrupt failson wastrel who’s hardly competent enough for his current position — which, last we checked, involved being a not-quite-starving starving artist.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be anyone’s concern but the Biden family’s. The problem is that, while Hunter was so deeply mired in substance abuse and debauchery that he was serially filming himself with sex workers while combing the carpets of his home for specks of crack and/or parmesan cheese, he was also making deals with major business players in China, Ukraine and Central America — deals to which he almost certainly brought nothing to the table but his last name and its proximity to power and influence.

The president has tried to push this aside, professing the undying love of a father while insisting he didn’t discuss Hunter’s business dealings with him. The first part no one would begrudge him, but there’s overwhelming evidence the second claim is likely a baldfaced lie.

If and when the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in the wake of the 2022 midterms, which they seem likely to do, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee has indicated he’s ready to start investigating Hunter — an investigation which, presumably, could eventually reach the president.

Trending:
Lib Host Jon Stewart Overvalued His Home By 829% After Saying Trump Civil Case Is 'Not Victimless'

The president’s smug response? “Lots of luck.”

During a Wednesday media briefing at the White House, CBS News’ Wendy Cordes noted in a question to the president that Republicans “want to launch rapid investigations on day one into your handling of Afghanistan, the border; they want to look into some of your cabinet officials, they want to investigate you, they may even want to investigate your son.”

“What’s your message to Republicans who are considering investigating your family and particularly your son Hunter’s business dealings?” she asked.

“Lots of luck in your senior year, as my coach used to say,” Biden responded.

Should an investigation into Hunter Biden be a Republican House priority?

“Look, I think the American public want us to move on and get things done for them. And I heard … that Republicans were saying that the former president said ‘How many times are you gonna impeach Biden?'”

“I think the American people will look at all of that for what it is, it’s just almost comedy.”

Wait, serial impeachment of a president when there’s no hope of conviction in the Senate is “almost comedy?” Stop the presses, you media outlets that still have presses: Biden just admitted impeaching Trump twice after cursory, made-for-TV hearings was “almost comedy.” About time, I say.

Related:
Trump to Show Up in Person to Support Family of Slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller

As for business dealings involving the president’s son, nobody has seriously proposed summary impeachment yet. Simple nepotism isn’t illegal, after all. What they have promised to do is to look into his financial dealings, and presumably to do so with more even-handedness than the Democrats have with their Jan. 6 kangaroo court farce.

“We’re prepared to subpoena Hunter Biden,” Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican set to take over as chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told CBS News. “We would certainly hope that he would want to come before the committee and clear his name.”

“What Joe Biden said is, ‘Our son is innocent.’ If I were Hunter Biden, I’d want to come clear my name and make some Republicans look bad,” Comer continued. “So we’re gonna ask Hunter Biden to come before the committee. If he refuses, then I suspect that he would receive a subpoena.”

Comer also expressed concern that Hunter Biden’s dealings with China and Ukraine, inter alia, might have “compromised this White House,” considering the president’s son was dependent on foreign, government-linked companies to make a living.

“Therefore, it’s a national security concern,” Comer said. “And we take that very seriously, and we’re going to press forward with a credible, formal investigation of the president of the United States.”

Nobody seems to seriously contest that Hunter Biden is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Washington nepotism in recent memory; even Roger Clinton and Billy Carter would probably advise the 52-year-old sponge to grow a sense of shame and look for honest work that doesn’t involve a paintbrush and canvas.

As liberal Matthew Yglesias put it in a piece for lefty outlet Vox back in 2020, “Hunter’s career … never really seems to have quite launched as an independent entity,” with Biden’s younger son “stumbling through life and often trading on his dad’s name and position for financial gain.”

So, no one seems to deny this. However, while everyone is willing to concede that he traded on his father’s name, nobody on the left seems to be willing to take the next step and acknowledge that an influence-peddler must necessarily have influence to peddle. Hunter Biden spent 20 years trading on his dad’s name and we’re expected to believe President Biden’s protestations that he didn’t talk with his child about it? That almost says more about the father than it does about the son.

And, just so we’re clear, here are Biden’s own words on the matter: “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” he said in 2019, according to USA Today.

I mean, except for the one time we almost certainly know that Joe spoke to his son about his overseas business dealings:



That’s a 2018 voice-mail from Biden telling his son he was “clear” regarding a New York Times piece about a state-linked Chinese energy firm called CEFC that Hunter was involved with.

CEFC, by the by, is the same company from the infamous Hunter laptop email that promised 10 percent of a prospective deal would be “held by H for the big guy.” A former business partner of Hunter’s, Tony Bobulinski, has alleged H is Hunter and the “big guy” was his father.

Let’s say none of that is true, however — or, at least, that none of that can be proven. Imagine, for a second, that you’re the vice president and your son shows up one day at the vice president’s official residence — as Hunter once did — with a group of business scions that included billionaire Carlos Slim, the Mexican tycoon who was once the world’s richest man:

Wouldn’t you want to know why he was there? “Say, uh, Hunter, ol’ sport — where did you two meet? Pickup basketball game? Toastmasters meeting? Shared love of combing parmesan cheese out of carpets?”

Of course, you don’t even need to ask why Hunter was running around with Slim: He was pursuing business deals with the magnate. And the man who’s now the first failson just happened to get Slim an invite to the Naval Observatory while his father was in residence there. Nothing to see here.

The president may smirk and tell the Republicans “lots of luck,” courtesy of his old high school coach. Thanks, I guess. I’d keep that luck for yourself, Mr. President, were I you.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , , ,
Share
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




Conversation