It seems bizarre to me that Hunter Biden's conviction for gun crimes is being equated in some circles with Donald Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsification of business records with intent to defraud the voting public.
Hunter Biden is not standing for President of the United States last I checked. Donald Trump, for our sins, is. Joe Biden was not involved in his son's bad decisions. The worst you could argue is that he should have been, although that would be a stretch, and being a good father is not a major requirement of the presidency, not should it be (can Trump be said to be a better father?)
If anything, the Biden trial served to confirm the probity of the American justice system. And Joe Biden's grave and measured response to his son's conviction - his respect for the verdict, painful as it may be, and a heartfelt hug - marks a pointed difference from Trump's denial, outrage and histrionics.
There are many better bases on which Americans can hang their votes. Policies, maybe? International respect? Ability to tell the truth? Fathering? Not so much.
Still, Trump and the more rabid elements of the right-wing American press now talk about the "Biden Crime Family" and the "Biden Family Criminal Empire". And some, not content with the conviction, are portraying Hunter Biden's trial as a fake cover-up for the family's "true crimes". Conspiracy theories abound as to what these putative crimes may be, and truthfulness, or even a basic level of truthiness, are not a necessary element. Trump's son, Jr., for example, talks about the Biden trial "trying to create that illusion of equal justice under the law"
Canada has its own problems, most countries do. But America today is a sad old place, and the longer this stuff goes on, the lower the country's image sinks in the eyes of the rest of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment