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.
It’s not a great look…but let’s be frank. Biden was pushed out of a race he wanted, during a presidency that wasn’t all that bad considering what came before. The Dems that wanted him out are now all either infighting, or saying everything is fine and they’ll definitely win in four years. Biden’s in the last weeks of his job, and when he’s lost so much already he probably just wants to ensure his family are safe.
After decades of public service, and being committed to handing power over to someone that’s demonized what’s left of his family, I’m all for Biden using his last week or two to protect his family and enjoy retirement.
I can’t stand this “not a good look” talk when democrats have to basically be squeaky cleak that they can’t even own a peanut farm or swear and yet 10 years into the “grab them by the pussy” guy who makes fun of disabled people, women, calls everyone names including his own party… Nobody bats an eyelash. I don’t care if Joe Biden lied for his son at this point, Donald pardoned and will continue to pardon dozens of family and staff and insurrectionists. It’s ok for Trump to lie about not knowing project 2025 and then immediately hire everyone involved with it days later… But Biden can’t lie once. Got it.
“The other guys do bad things, so it’s okay for us to do bad things as well”. What kind of argument is that?
Pardoning your family members is corrupt plain and simple, doesn’t matter what political party they belong to, doesn’t matter who they are. It should be called out.
It is “corrupt” (within quotation marks because it is also legal). But it can also be understandable. Given his circumstances, I know what I’d do. The same. Without a doubt. What would you do?
Of course he can be criticised, go right ahead. I don’t care. But let’s also be honest. We are no saints. No matter what, he will never be elected to anything again ever. Just huffing and puffing is fairly pointless and makes people look blustering, not principled.
You can not use the “we’re just human” argument on a leader of a country. Their actions affect people’s lives and liberty, they have a responsibility to protect those.
I don’t care what you would do. It is corrupt. Pacifism is how we ended up with Hitler.
If Republicans demonize democrats and project their own crimes for half a century without facts then it’s honestly time to stop crying wolf and do some things that they’re getting accused of. Why does a red name get a pass? If it isn’t both sides but everyone thinks it is anyway then there is no reason to not do bad stuff. Trump has proven that you will get rewarded for being the worst human possible and more. He is apparently the ideal American so to not lie cheat and steal is un-American. If Biden helps his son once in the face of 30+ terrible felonies president trump did himself, not including his cronies, then so be it. I really hope Biden breaks everyone’s brain about pardons because it will bring every other scummy pardon into question too from other presidents.
Why celebrate them doing it for selfish reasons? Biden is finally willing to break norms but not to do anything that’ll actually benefit the country.
Your arguments would make sense if he tried to pack the supreme court or take extra measures to prevent project 2025 but he’s just protecting his guilty son… Yay?
This is simple tribalism at best.
Pardoning family members is corrupt plain and simple. Justifying those actions based on the actions of others does not make it any less corrupt.
Loosing your ethical integrity in an effort to “get even” only favors extremists who do not care about a country. I suggest everyone reading this take an objective look at the situation and see where we’re headed.
I don’t think it’s that simple, if the only reason your family members were persecuted was for political reasons to begin with. Let’s not pretend that conservatives actually care about this law, if they did then most of their influencers and celebrities would be in prison for this. You could start with Joe Rogan who talks all the time about his drug use and hunting past times.
The mental gymnastics are endless amongst the establishment. Using addiction as a cover for corruption is just par huh.
A summary of the charges and convictions of Hunter Biden:
Gun Charge Conviction: Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony counts for lying on a federal firearms application. He pleaded guilty to making a false statement, saying he was not a drug user, and illegally possessing a firearm for 11 days.
Tax Convictions: Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in Los Angeles, including three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses. He failed to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes for tax years 2016-2019 and filed false returns.
Plea Deal: Initially, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to the tax charges and faced a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison.
22 downvotes as of this writing. Mental illness and astroturfing are just as bad on lemmy as they are on reddit
I mean… He ran in 2020 saying he would only be a one-term President…
And then him and his staff hid his cognitive decline well past the start of the primaries…
He also said there’d be consequences for Israel if they didn’t start allowing aid into Gaza…
So that’s four lies, counting his backtrack on pardoning his son.
The problem is Biden helped create the legal system he’s now shielding his son from. The same legal system that put thousands upon thousands of sons and daughters behind bars.
And with the recent attention police conduct has gotten (and all the footage we see of officers abusing/torturing/beating/killing those being arrested), how many of those kids never made it to the courtroom because of ol’ Joe “Maybe Cops Can Just Shoot-em in the Leg” Biden and the militarized police force he helped create?
You’re right, Republicans are corrupt to the core, they’re pieces of shit, and they have and will do things that are worse than this. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that this only benefits the Biden family, and is corruption, full stop. I understand why he did it, and I’ve gone back and forth on whether I’d do the same in his shoes (which probably means I would)…
But he deserves to be criticized for it, as I would be, because it’s blatant corruption, and just reinforces the notion amongst non-voters that both parties are the same, they only care about protecting and enriching their own, and us plebs can just go fuck ourselves.
And actions like this are exactly why people say “both parties,” because they prove it.
Yeah honestly I’d do the same if I were in his position. I can’t blame him.