On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked the question on everyone’s mind. Her response was uninspired:

Now, it’s possible that this is an unfair assumption. But casual observers of this White House can’t help but notice something from reporting: It suggests that a politically maladroit response to a perfectly legitimate question is likely an outgrowth of the president’s stubborn refusal to accept that his son’s sordid lifestyle and criminal entanglements are a matter of politics at all.

As NBC News reported last week, “President Joe Biden has made it clear to his closest aides in no uncertain terms that he not only will reject any political advice that he try to limit his son Hunter’s public visibility but that he also doesn’t want to hear such suggestions.” Moreover, Joe Biden’s conspicuous efforts to augment his son’s visibility, and Hunter Biden’s refusal to step back — to such a degree that he has forced even cabinet officials in his father’s administration to endure untenable circumstances — suggests that the president’s son doesn’t care about how his behavior affects the people around him.

Hunter Biden is careless. Maybe he’s so careless that he would walk into the White House with a schedule-one substance and forget where he left it. Maybe not. But the people who appear to lack all shame in this particular situation are not those who have merely noticed Hunter Biden’s flippancy and Joe Biden’s disregard for it.