The Democrat party may be heading towards a schism. It doesn’t look like there is any reconciling anymore.
And now Top Democrats announced they are jumping ship after this despicable act from Joe Biden.
Still reeling from their bruising November defeats, Democrats now face another political crisis: President Joe Biden’s controversial pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, for federal crimes.
The move has left the party grappling with accusations of hypocrisy after years of portraying Donald Trump as a lawless threat to democracy.
Late Sunday, Biden issued a sweeping pardon for Hunter, covering more than a decade of potential federal crimes. The clemency, which includes charges of tax evasion and lying on a federal gun purchase form, marked a reversal of Biden’s previous vows.
The 82-year-old president defended his decision by calling the charges “politically motivated.”
“He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. For months, Jean-Pierre, Biden, and other officials had insisted that Hunter would not receive a pardon.
The pardon has infuriated some Democrats, who argue it undermines their ability to confront Trump, who has claimed his own legal troubles stem from politically motivated prosecutions by Biden’s Justice Department.
“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis wrote on X.
He added, “Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) echoed that sentiment, posting on X, “This wasn’t a politically motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”
Still, Biden has his defenders within the party, many of whom pointed to Trump’s history of using presidential clemency to shield allies.
Democratic fundraiser Jon Cooper highlighted Trump’s pardons for figures like Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Paul Manafort, writing, “Sorry, but Biden was right to pardon his son Hunter to protect him against Kash Patel’s weaponized FBI.” Patel is a Trump ally who has proposed using the FBI to target political opponents.
First Lady Jill Biden also stood by her husband’s decision, telling reporters, “Of course I support the pardon of my son.”
The controversy comes as Democrats prepare for a daunting political landscape. Following Trump’s November victory, the GOP will control the presidency, the Senate, and the House.
Democrats had hoped to make Trump’s legal troubles—stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 election and a state fraud conviction—central to their attacks. But with many of those cases now delayed or dismissed after Trump’s win, Biden’s pardon complicates their narrative.
Adding to the backlash is Biden’s own history of ruling out clemency for his son. In June, as Hunter faced trial, Biden said, “I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
As recently as Nov. 8, White House press secretary Jean-Pierre reiterated that position, saying, “Our answer stands, which is no.”
But the president’s abrupt reversal comes just weeks before Hunter’s sentencing in his gun case and his guilty plea on tax charges. The pardon not only covers these crimes but any federal offenses Hunter may have committed from January 2014 to December 2024.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles began in 2020, when he revealed he was under federal investigation shortly after his father’s election.
In June, he was convicted in federal court of lying on a 2018 gun purchase form by denying he was using drugs. He also faced a California trial for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes, but he pleaded guilty to multiple charges just as jury selection was set to begin.
In a statement defending his decision, Biden argued that such cases are rarely prosecuted with the same intensity as Hunter’s.
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” he said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son. … I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
As Democrats wrestle with the fallout, one thing is clear: the president’s decision has reshaped the political landscape, creating fresh challenges for a party already on the defensive.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
