My thoughts on humanity vs. politics

 

Tonight I am truly weary of hearing about Hunter Biden and his laptop. I doubt we’ll ever know the truth of whether it has/had incriminating evidence, whether it is/was Russian disinformation, just what it was. But I know that Gym Jordan and James Comer on whatever committee it is—oversight?—don’t really give a fig about Hunter or his laptop. They’re using him as a way to attack Biden. And they’re happily willing to ruin whatever the younger Biden can salvage of his life.

Hunter Biden is probably not my ideal of the perfect man—or anywhere close. He is a seriously flawed human being, but he is living proof that money and privilege don’t cushion all of us against life’s hardships. And he has had life thrown at him—the accident which killed his mother and sister when he was very young, what must have been a difficult recovery, the death of his older brother a few years ago. Even without all that trauma, being the child of a politician and now president is not an easy row to hoe.

And he has not handled it well. He’s admitted to drug addiction, he apparently has a fairly sordid personal life, but he seems to be on the mend. I question some things he has done, like recently denying a daughter the use of his surname—but who am I to judge? I don’t know the whole story. What this man has going in his favor is a loving family. I saw a picture of President Biden with Hunter that struck me in the heart—the love, the caring was so obvious. It’s easy for some cynics to counter with, “Well, he hasn’t repaid that love well,” or “He had every advantage—money, education, etc. There’s no excuse for him turning out the way he did.”

Oh, I think there’s lots of reasons if not excuses. Not all of us have the strength to deal with it when life throws big ones at it. And to play on his weakness for political purposes is despicable. Do you really think he involved his dad so that our president is beholden to China? Current affairs sure would contraindicate that. Did young Biden participate in something illegal with Burisma? Not as far as anyone has proven, and it was his dad who cleaned up the scandal in Ukraine. Was Biden a pawn in preparing Ukraine to submit to Russia (which it didn’t do)? We can’t be sure. We may never know. On the other hand, I may end up looking foolishly gullible.

But I am less concerned with the politics than the humanity in this case. I cannot believe that whatever Hunter Biden did, he is more than a minor pawn in a much larger political scene. And looking at Joe Biden’s long record of playing it straight, mostly, in American politics, I can’t believe he let himself be compromised. Many will disagree with me, but I am quite confident our president has an inner core of integrity.

What I do believe is that the House committee—and James Comer—believe in hitting a man when he’s down. I saw a headline somewhere that Hunter Biden’s marriage maybe in trouble. For his sake, I hope not. But the larger questions is, “What does that have to do with American politics and international security? Current politics is far from the collegiality of Tip O’Neil’s day. It’s vicious, cruel, cutthroat—and does nothing to advance the good of the American people

But let’s turn the tables. We’ve known all along that Jared Kushner accepted (borrowed, whatever?) $2 million from the Saudis to start a new venture. Lately information has come out that makes that look like a slimy deal, maybe illegal, unethical for sure. Has there been any hue and cry about that? Why aren’t Comer and Jordan investigating their fellow Republicans? We all know why: they are desperate to depose Biden and re-install trump in the presidency.

Do they care about American democracy? The well being of the American people? Are they sincerely devoted to their country? Not one bit. They want to tear down democracy and install a demagogue. And to do that they pick on a weak link.

Is this what we want for America? I hope not