Summary
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, reversing his prior stance against using executive clemency.
The pardon covers Hunter’s federal gun conviction and tax evasion guilty plea, sparking political controversy.
Biden cited political attacks and a “miscarriage of justice” as reasons for his decision, emphasizing his son’s recovery from addiction and the targeting of his family.
Critics argue the move undermines the judicial process, while supporters view it as within Biden’s constitutional powers.
This decision shields Hunter from potential prison time as Biden nears the end of his presidency.
That’s true too but the framing is what cracks me up. This idea of “legacy” or “being on the right side of history”…it’s all a kind of Aaron Sorkin / Jon Meacham question that does not really seem to affect anything or matter to anyone in the electorate.
EDIT: I’m guilty of thinking this way about the presidency in the past, but what Trump changed for me – likely for a lifetime – is that “the office” doesn’t imbue the office holder any dignity, respect, or gravitas any longer in my eyes. Honestly, it never should have in the first place.
The idea of the office as belonging to dignified holders who always have the nation’s best interests at heart is purely a fictional, sentimental framing of what it actually is and is not supported at all by an accurate reading of history. Some of them really try to do good things for people. Most of them do things that are bad but do them for well-intended reasons. But some of them – maybe even a lot of them – are unadulterated assholes who deserve no respect at all.