The hypocrisy is the point

My take on the Hunter Biden pardon

On Sunday evening, Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, from federal charges he was facing in connection to gun and tax violations. I’m not getting deep into the details of Hunter’s cases or the pardon itself here; if you’re interested, there is no lack of think pieces on the subject. Instead, I want to talk a little bit about the reactions to the pardon. Because frankly, the outrage has been ridiculously hyperbolic.

Full disclosure right up front: in case you haven’t heard, I received a cease-and-desist letter from Kash Patel’s attorney this week. It accused me of defaming Patel, who is Trump’s FBI nominee, because I told the truth about him on MSNBC on Monday. He’s demanding a full retraction and an apology on my X account. The thing about this is that it speaks volumes about Kash Patel’s ongoing promises to target political opponents and the media and what he is likely to do should he become head of the FBI. Needless to say, he won’t be getting a retraction from me. It’s clearly an attempt to intimidate and bully me. It’s also meant to scare others into silence as he goes through the confirmation process. We’ll see what happens next. But I have no ducks left to give this week.

Okay, back to the pardon and why it’s making everyone so insane.

Let’s start with the MAGA right. Years ago, when I was working in Donald Trump’s White House, the phrase ‘the cruelty is the point’ became popular on social media. It was a fitting way to describe policies that seemed designed to maximize misery merely so certain members of the administration could get their sadistic jollies. Particularly with regard to the border, the policies were deliberately cruel, and the harsh, inhumane treatment of migrants was intended to both punish those who had crossed the border illegally and deter others from doing the same.

So yes, the cruelty was absolutely the point and still is. But just as much—if not more so—the hypocrisy was the point, too. On the surface, Republican ire over Biden’s pardon is hilarious. Trump is a convicted felon who pardoned his own criminal conspirators in his last term, and he has pledged to pardon even more of them when he’s back in office. So why should Biden’s pardon matter to people who looked past all of that to (supposedly) lower the cost of eggs?

If eggs are our political barometer now, and pardoning Hunter didn’t raise the market price, shouldn’t it pass muster under the new morality? No, because that would make sense, and coherence is not one of MAGA’s strong suits. In fact, inconsistency is one of the few things they’ve been consistent on. Point to nearly any policy, position, action, statement, or decision going back to 2015, and you’ll find some internal conflict that’s seemingly been ignored.

I say ‘seemingly’ because in MAGA world, these conflicts haven’t been ignored at all—they’ve been celebrated. Think about it…

• They were for the justice system dealing with Trump’s crimes until it actually did.

• They decry executive orders on immigration but rejected congressional action, forcing Biden to issue…an executive order.

• They hate inflation but voted for tariffs and oil policies that exacerbate it.

• They were in favor of federal action on abortion, and then they weren’t.

• They were all for hacks and leaks before they were against them.

• They supported red flag laws, then they didn’t.

• They back the blue until they don’t.

• They want freedom of speech but also do not.

• They champion deregulation, but not really.

• They hate big government after they loved it.

• They finally call out political violence after they laughed at it.

• They liked Trump’s real FEMA budget reallocation but hated Biden’s fake one.

• They disregard wild animals (and even pets) until they don’t—or until it becomes meme-worthy disinfo.

• They’re obsessed with pedophiles but have also excused them—or palled around with them.

• They deplore the perceived special treatment of presidents’ children but ignore nepotism, mysterious payouts, and other advantages for their own.

The list is literally endless. The pardon hypocrisy is just the latest. These double standards aren’t a bug, however, but a feature. Trump is a walking contradiction. He’s a wealthy, well-educated, entitled TV celebrity, known for stiffing workers, who appeals to average Americans by presenting himself as a victim of the very system from which he benefits. This hypocrisy allows him to play multiple sides of the political spectrum in a divisive but deeply effective way. Reality is secondary to the performance of populist anger. And the base loves it.

The more Trump flouts established norms and rules as he fights ‘elites,’ the more his supporters double down. He’s tough! He tells it like it is! He’s draining the swamp! For the MAGA faithful, Trump’s ability to contradict himself, dismiss inconvenient facts, and disregard the law is simply proof of his dominance and power.

Some Trump supporters believe the rules don’t apply to them anymore either. They actively embrace the notion that bending, or even breaking, the rules is a form of strength and patriotism—a way to signal that they are unburdened by ‘wokeness’ or the establishment’s expectations. And when this rejection of norms comes into conflict with their own principles, they justify it as necessary to save the country from corruption, rather than correctly seeing it as corruption itself.

Biden’s pardon flies right in the face of all of this. To MAGA, Democrats are ‘weak’ precisely because they generally adhere to established standards and are scrupulously held to them. How dare Biden buck them? If Trump is strong for defying rules and norms, what does that make ‘Sleepy Joe’ when he does the same thing? The cognitive dissonance is driving them crazy.

So we know where Republicans’ pearl-clutching stems from, but what about Democrats’ and NeverTrumpers’ indignation? I’ll be honest with you, I’ve found some of it to be pretty shocking. I would have understood and likely agreed with it in the ‘before times,’ but now? Not even a little. It strikes me as incredibly naive. I’m not suggesting Democrats should become hypocrites themselves, but I do think they need to get comfortable with worrying a little less about the optics and a little more about the threats we’re facing.

I ask you: would you entrust your kid’s fate to Trump’s personally installed lackeys, who’ve publicly declared they’ll ‘come after’ anyone on his hit list? I wouldn’t. That’s the cold reality staring Joe Biden in the face right now. Other targets of Trump’s retribution, including me, are in the same boat. It’s clarifying, believe me.

For some of you, this might sound cynical. But I assure you, the rule of law—not the price of eggs—remains my political barometer in these fraught times. There is nothing about this pardon that is unprecedented or against the law. Presidents have pardoned family members for well over a century. Trump did. Further, presidents break promises when conditions change. Trump certainly did. Are these things ideal? No. But Biden should pay no greater price for it than his predecessors did—or his successor will.

Is that ‘whataboutism’? Eh, perhaps. But sometimes it just applies, especially in politics, where so much of what we consider normal and acceptable is based on precedents. Yes, Trump cited the pardon in his filing to have his New York charges dismissed. So what? Did we all just forget that Trump has made a habit of smearing Bidens to benefit himself? Two impeachments serve as evidence of that. Would he not have filed the motion had the pardon not happened? Haha, right. So who really cares?

While we were distracted by the pardon, news broke that Peter Navarro, who was imprisoned for contempt of Congress in the Jan. 6 case, is joining the administration as an adviser. And last week, Charles Kushner, father of Jared, was named Ambassador to France four years after being pardoned by Trump for the crimes of tax evasion, retaliating in a ‘loathsome’ way against a cooperating witness, and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission in 2005. Yep, an actual election crime. You can’t make the hypocrisy up.

We are wasting precious time on self-flagellation and the circular firing squad when we should be building up our resilience for what’s to come. Biden is doing Democrats a favor. As highly as I think of him, the truth is, he’s an unpopular president on his way out the door. He’s taking the heat for this pardon and giving Democrats some space to separate themselves from him in a way Republicans have never been able to do from Trump.

So that’s my take on all of this. What do you think? Would love to hear your comments!

See you next week,

Olivia