President Joe Biden's reelection could be in jeopardy thanks to son Hunter Biden's alleged past criminal behavior, The Messenger reported. Moreover, Hunter Biden's current behavior could seal the deal entirely for his father.
Hunter Biden has become part of Republicans' impeachment inquiry and may sink his father's political prospects entirely, some worry. "I have a pit in my stomach about it," a veteran Democratic strategist told the news outlet.
The informant had worked for Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign and sees parallels with the former secretary of state's own email server scandal that may have been her undoing. "The email controversy was silly, but it was made to be a distraction, and it worked," the strategist said.
The Clinton email scandal involved classified communications being sent from a private email server, which is serious but not when compared to Hunter Biden's conduct. "This Hunter story has the legs to ruin things for Biden," the Democratic informer added.
Joe Biden is having no trouble ruining things on his own, but Hunter Biden's shady financial dealings may accelerate that downfall. "Hunter Biden isn't the biggest political problem that his father faces, but the situation is an unwelcome distraction for an embattled president burdened by concerns about the economy and age," Brad Bannon, Democratic strategist, said of the 81-year-old president.
"The controversy about Hunter Biden's financial dealings might play the same role for Republicans that Hillary Clinton's emails did in 2016. The emails didn't derail her presidential campaign," Bannon continued.
"But Trump's attacks on her laptop put her on defense and provided a vehicle for him to respond to attacks on his honesty with questions about his opponent's integrity," Bannon said. Unfortunately for Biden, he will likely face former President Donald Trump as his opponent in 2024.
Democratic lawmakers are publicly circling the wagons for Biden and downplaying the Hunter Biden scandals, but it's little more than wishful thinking. "If you want to punish Joe Biden because of Hunter, which is not how we elect our presidents, I think it’s already baked in," Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said.
"If they could impeach Hunter Biden, they would," Moskowitz added. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) believes Americans will "see past it" and that Republicans are grasping at straws "to create a dark cloud over the Biden family and hope that that affects Joe."
It's not just that Hunter Biden is being investigated. As Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley pointed out, Hunter Biden seems to be intentionally making this worse for his father, RealClearPolitics reported.
Turley said it was "otherworldly" to watch Hunter Biden and his "flagrant contempt of Congress" earlier this week. The younger Biden took to the steps of the U.S. Capitol to make a speech explaining why he would not simply go into the building to testify.
There's also been an attempt to guide the narrative to a new explanation that Hunter Biden may indeed be a crook but that his father had nothing to do with his business dealings. Still, everyone involved knows that the evidence says quite the opposite.
"We now know that even Hunter's associates said it was nonsense. Hunter himself said his father had knowledge. But, you have the president sort of caught in the amber of this scandal. And he can't now deny what he told the public over and over again," Turley said.
Hunter Biden not only has put his father in a tough spot but also continues to make things worse with his conduct. If this continues, there's a good chance it will be enough to turn the American people against a second term for Biden, and rightly so.
