The decision by the Department of Justice to charge Hunter Biden for two mere misdemeanors for massive tax evasion linked to the foreign payoffs he took, and put him in a "diversion program" with dismissal likely for lying about his drug use and possible drug distribution activies on his gun ownership application drives home to most Americans that we have a two-tier system of justice.
It's not just in striking contrast to the cascade of charges being leveled at President Trump on questionable matters as he seeks to re-run for office.
It's that any one of us, faced with the same charges at the same scale would be thrown into the slammer for the rest of our lives.
Writer Tom Knighton calls that a "slap in the face" to ordinary Americans, and writes on his substack:
Hunter Biden has apparently broken a number of laws. We know he’s broken them and he broke them repeatedly.
And it seems he’s now about to face charges for his crimes.
That’s the good news.
Unfortunately, that’s about all the good news. You see, Hunter’s getting the kind of deal that neither you nor I would be offered. He’ll likely never see a day in prison.
Writer Jonathan Tobin at Newsweek calls it "sweetheart deal," and all about the political protection for Joe Biden himself:
The worst part of all of this is the way the DOJ is protecting the President. If such allegations were leveled against anyone else involved in the kind of criminality Hunter was routinely engaged in, the Department of Justice would be using them as leverage to get to the bottom of his family's questionable activities. Anyone else would be squeezed to reveal all about his shady dealings. Yet Hunter was simply... let off.
One set of laws for us. Another set for Hunter.
Andrew McCarthy has more disgusted thoughts here, arguing that the sweetheart deal was "intentionally provocative" and intended to rub our noses in it, while Michael Goodwin calls it new take on the "president's day sale" with "friend and family discounts" here.
Hunter always did brag about his political clout -- and now with this utterly obvious special treatment from the reaches of the long arm of the law, there it is.
In the House, Rep. James Comer has vowed to carry on with his investigation into the Biden family syndicate of corruption, and that's useful work indeed, given the amount of payoff money uncovered, now in the neighborhood of $30 million.
But in a corrupt, rigged system, such as we have now, it's hard to think that anything will come of it, though it could perhaps serve as a marker for potential action if Trump does manage to win the presidency again.
This phony justice cries out for at least some kind of Republican statement-action now.
Since there is a two-tier system of justice and now everyone knows it, with Joe Biden quite convinced he's going to skate without consequences, maybe Congress could pass a corrective bill about it, reducing all penalties for tax fraud and gun application violations for everyone else to Hunter Biden's level. They could call it the "Hunter Biden Two-Tier Justice Correction Act."
The leftist Senate would probably not pass it (just imagine Mitch McConnell, who's been playing swamp games for years advocating for a bill like that), but in case it did, it could be put in front of Joe Biden's face for signature ... and everyone could watch him veto it.
At that point, the voters will be informed as to what this Hunter justice is really about. If Hunter Biden can't be made to do jail time for the illegal activities he engaged in, then nobody should be forced to do jailtime for the same offenses. Reduce all penalties for anyone commiting Hunter's crimes to Hunter's level, take a stand for one-tier justice, and see how that plays out with the voters.
Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of images by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0, Acaben, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0, PxFuel public domain, ABC News YouTube screen shot, and Voice of America // public domain
