Joe Biden: a caring father worried about his wayward son, or a crooked politician terrified of getting caught?
Depending on your perspective and political affiliation, Biden could be either.
Democrats have always presented his worry regarding his wastrel son Hunter as an exceptional example of fatherly concern.
But conservatives, especially those who have been paying attention, always saw his concern as more cowardly and less commendable.
Regardless, according to Politico, Biden's worries about his useless son's upcoming trials have only grown worse, with aides fearing he could suffer "psychological torment."
In fact, White House insiders apparently told Politico that staffers hesitate to even mention the first son's name in front of Biden, lest they fall victim to his wrath.
These same insiders told Politico that Biden has expressed his fear that his son will serve prison time as a result of the upcoming trial -- set to begin on June 3 -- regarding his alleged illegal purchase of a firearm.
While Biden's team attempted to postpone the trial, especially seeing as Hunter is set to go to trial in California on June 20 over tax issues, Trump-appointed Judge Maryellen Noreika declared the trial would proceed as planned.
As CNN explained back in December, if the young Biden is found guilty of the three felonies and six misdemeanors in the tax case, and the three charges in the gun case, he could face, at maximum, 17 and 25 years in prison, respectively.
Thus, the older Biden has been beside himself with anxiety, an advisor telling Politico, “He worries about Hunter every single day, from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. That will only pick up during a trial."
That said, while these insiders assured Politico that the president has maintained the habit of texting or calling his son once a day, and will maintain it throughout his trials, his administration will not set up a "war room" to react to the trial.
Instead, they're going to let the young Biden and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, fend for themselves.
Granted, it would look bad if Biden got too intimately involved in his son's legal woes (as he has in the past).
But these insights make his worry seem less attributable to fatherly concern, and more to the terror of his underhanded business dealings being revealed publicly.
Moreover, Biden's greatest fear seems to be that his son will suffer the just consequences of his unjust actions.
While no father would ever want to see his son go to prison, a good father would still welcome a just punishment for illegal actions.
Besides, would Hunter Biden have found himself in this mess in the first place had Biden actually been a hands-on and caring father?
Most likely not.
As commentator Bruce Bialosky noted in The Flash Report, even though the White House and its cheerleaders in the establishment media have run cover for Biden by constantly insisting he is a loving father, that never meant that he was also a good father.
If anything, the evidence has suggested that the older Biden was, at best, incredibly negligent.
As for the second claim of Biden's staffers, that his son's legal troubles could cause the president "psychological torment" -- who else has faced much more legal turmoil, all for baseless and often patently unjust reasons?
Biden's arch nemesis, Donald Trump.
What kind of "psychological turmoil" must Trump be suffering, in the midst of four politically motivated legal persecutions, while at the mercy of an establishment media waiting gleefully to see him punished to the fullest extent of the law?
And all this while trying to run a political campaign.
Trump has definitely been put under far more psychological stress over the past year than the octogenarian commander in chief, yet they fear Biden is the one at risk of being "dramatically impacted" by his son's legal turmoil?
That's not exactly a good advertisement for Biden's mental state.
Perhaps he should spend more time actually being a father to his children, rather than desperately clinging to his farce of a presidency.
It might save him some "psychological torment."
