BY MARK R. WEAVER
Someone finally held Hunter Biden accountable. All along, it should have been his father. But a jury had to do it.
No one can fault Joe Biden for pouring affection on his children after the tragic car accident that took his wife and daughter. And when eldest son Beau died of cancer, most of the President's fatherly love was projected into Hunter.
Here's the problem: Unconditional affirming—which Joe Biden does to Hunter, whom he calls "the smartest man he knows"—becomes enabling. Loving your child is an admirable trait, of course, but in those times of struggle, some parents wisely choose tough love.
Addicts need that to help them through their substance abuse. But Joe Biden ran in the opposite direction, often seeking to shield Hunter from the natural results of his bad choices. That's not tough love; it's parental butt covering. The president is even prone to lashing out when the public dares ask why Hunter gets special treatment.
Joe largely sees Hunter as the beloved son who can do no wrong. The Delaware jury, plucked from the most Biden-friendly place in the universe, saw Hunter differently: They saw someone who flaunted federal gun law. And they held Hunter accountable.
Call it the judicial brand of tough love.
The facts were as obvious as the white in cocaine: This prodigal son was an admitted drug addictcharged with illegally obtaining a firearm by lying on the form required to make the purchase. Hunter, like me, is an attorney, and he knew what the language on the form means. I've filled out that same form numerous times, and the warnings to be truthful are littered across the document.
But the President wanted a different outcome for his son, which is hypocritical, given that Joe Biden signed the stricter law that toughens the penalties; it's now punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
But when it comes to Hunter, the President doesn't think the rules should apply. He'll claim otherwise, but his actions tell a different tale. For years, it's been major league enabling of a son of privilege.
That enabling grows even worse when you're a United States senator, vice president, and president. Then it becomes corruption. Hunter was discharged from the Navy Reservce for using cocaine. Hunter needed a soft landing. Cue dad, Vice President of the United States. Most people seeking to do business with China would need to buy a plane ticket to go. But Joe Biden invited Hunter to go along on Air Force 2. Taxpayers paid for the ultimate in first class travel, and Hunter took advantage of the imprimatur of American government credibility. Where Joe goes, Hunter tags along—and rakes in millions in return for the Biden brand. And where Hunter goes, Joe helps clean up the mess.
Joe's butt covering goes so deep that the Biden campaign conspired to downplay evidence on Hunter's discarded laptop by calling it—falsely, as we now know—a conspiracy. No apology or retraction from those who used it to help win the 2020 election.
The 12-step program of Narcotics Anonymous calls for the addict to take inventory, confess, and make amends. Hunter Biden still hasn't displayed any interest in that. Accountability is for the little people.
Hunter holding himself accountable would have involved him pleading guilty to the charge and using a local Wilmington attorney to help him through the procedure (I went to law school in Wilmington—there are plenty of good attorneys there). Instead, he and his family hired a highly paid Hollywood fixer lawyer to handle the matter. The first lady, Hunter's stepmom, left Normandy and the 80th anniversary of D-Day so she could sit front and center in the courtroom, reminding the Delaware jury that the defendant is very well connected.
All this comes after Biden's Justice Department tried to make a sweetheart deal that would have seen Hunter avoid all accountability for his alleged misdeeds. And let's not forget that Hunter still faces another trial on tax evasion later this year.
The defense argument in the gun case was astounding. They wanted the jury to believe that he was drug free and answered honestly on the ATF form during the very narrow window he owned the gun. Years and years of sustained drug use, despite trips to recovery, but somehow he managed to get clean for exactly the period when he purchased the gun?
Unlike Hunter at a crack house, jurors weren't buying it. In the end, it took a jury to deliver the tough love Joe Biden never could.