It’s not surprising that Hunter Biden was convicted on three counts related to his possession of a gun while addicted to drugs. His defense seemed to all but concede on the facts, while trying to generate sympathy regarding the circumstances of his addiction. No dice.
This and the case against Donald Trump aren’t all that different. Trump was clearly guilty of charges related to misreporting business expenses to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. In both cases these guys essentially lied on some forms. These are serious offenses in the sense that they’re felonies that carry potential jail time, but does the average American care a heck of a lot about either case? For Trump, clearly not. The polls barely moved after his conviction. We’ll see if Biden’s conviction has any impact on his father’s numbers, but I doubt that it will. It certainly shouldn’t.
These were victimless crimes committed by first time felony offenders. I have to qualify this with “felony” since Trump has lost civil suites related to sexual assault and business fraud.
They’re also similar in that both men have done worse things. Trump inspired an insurrection and tried to steal an election. Hunter Biden traded on his father’s position as Vice President. Neither is an admirable human being, but Hunter Biden isn’t running for anything. He can’t do any damage to anyone but himself.
In any event, neither Trump nor Biden should get jail time for what they did. Fine them, know that their lives will be restricted to some extent as convicted felons, take some comfort in the fact that powerful men didn’t get away with flouting the law, and leave it at that.
The country’s got more important things to worry about.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 