Biden’s Understandable but Fatal Decision
Published in Der Standard
(Austria) on 2 December 2024
by Manuel Escher (link to original)
(Austria) on 2 December 2024
by Manuel Escher (link to original)
Translated from
by Mallory Matsumoto.
Edited by Michelle Bisson.
On a human level, it is understandable that the 82-year-old U.S. president is protecting his one surviving son. But his deed severely hampers the future fight to maintain the rule of law in the U.S.
Joe Biden made one thing the core of his presidency: the restoration of norms and the strengthening of the rule of law. He was so fixated on it that the prosecution against Donald Trump progressed very slowly for a long time in order not to give the impression that it was politically motivated.
Both are done now, norms and prosecutions. Voters cared more about other issues. And now Biden is deviating from his prior behavior. Contrary to all his promises, he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who had become the target of a Republican smear campaign, but who had also been charged and later convicted in legitimate legal proceedings.
It is a gift for Trump. The Democrats now have to criticize Trump's inevitable attacks against the rule of law from a compromised position. What remains is the fatal, false impression that “those up there” are all the same and Trump is no anomaly. Trump will gladly accept the gift. But even if Biden had decided differently, it probably would not have deterred the persecution of opponents and the media that Trump is planning.
This is the context in which the decision of the 82-year-old Biden, who already lost a wife and daughter in a car accident and later his son Beau to cancer, needs to be understood. What is left is the question that should be asked in the case of any moral categorization: What decision would I make?
Joe Biden made one thing the core of his presidency: the restoration of norms and the strengthening of the rule of law. He was so fixated on it that the prosecution against Donald Trump progressed very slowly for a long time in order not to give the impression that it was politically motivated.
Both are done now, norms and prosecutions. Voters cared more about other issues. And now Biden is deviating from his prior behavior. Contrary to all his promises, he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who had become the target of a Republican smear campaign, but who had also been charged and later convicted in legitimate legal proceedings.
It is a gift for Trump. The Democrats now have to criticize Trump's inevitable attacks against the rule of law from a compromised position. What remains is the fatal, false impression that “those up there” are all the same and Trump is no anomaly. Trump will gladly accept the gift. But even if Biden had decided differently, it probably would not have deterred the persecution of opponents and the media that Trump is planning.
This is the context in which the decision of the 82-year-old Biden, who already lost a wife and daughter in a car accident and later his son Beau to cancer, needs to be understood. What is left is the question that should be asked in the case of any moral categorization: What decision would I make?
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