Joe Biden Dealt a Hard Blow to Liberal Democracy

The U.S. president’s pardon of Hunter Biden is a gift to the populist right that undermines confidence in the rule of law and free media. The decision reinforces the narrative of corrupt elites and casts a shadow over institutions that guarantee liberal democracy.

Pardoning his son Hunter, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement, “I hope Americans will understand.” The thing is that his decision carries consequences far more significant than the understanding — or lack of it — on the part of American voters.

Why Did Biden Pardon His Son, Hunter?

Humanly, Biden’s decision is understandable. The man in question was drawn into a machinery of justice only because his father was the U.S. president. For this reason, Hunter Biden was subjected to a thorough investigation revealing that a few years earlier he had bought arms, made false statements and evaded taxes. President Biden decided that, in his situation, no other citizen would be convicted. Hence, he stated, “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.”

But the matter goes far beyond family matters. It also concerns the Democratic Party, severely damaged by the outgoing president. It is also a blow to liberal democracy as a whole. This is grist for the mill of all the conspiracy theories that feed the alt-right political movements, undermining confidence in state authorities, the judiciary and the media.

As Yuval Noah Harari pointed out in his recent book, “Nexus,” these institutions are the guarantors of liberal democracy. The media and the judiciary are safety mechanisms to ensure that the authorities do not arbitrarily violate the rights and freedoms of citizens. In a liberal democracy, everyone has the right to appeal a decision of the state to an independent court. The media, in turn, perform a monitoring function, exposing the misconduct of the authorities.

Hence, authoritarian regimes have been trying for years to prove that the freedom of media and the independence of the judicial system is a false facade. That there exists a secret agreement between the government, the media and the courts, whose goal is not the welfare of the citizens but maintaining the dominance of corrupt elites who want to exploit their citizens. This narrative against liberal democracy has been taken over by the alt-right political identity movement.

Hunter Biden’s Pardon Is Grist for the Mill of the Populist Right

After all, during his campaign Donald Trump said that the deep state is in power, and Biden or Kamala Harris are only its puppets — and that the true enemy is the inner one, and that the whole system should be destroyed. His close adviser, Elon Musk, argued that the media is lying, and the current model of media should be replaced by social platforms such as his X (formerly Twitter). It is X users whom Musk congratulated on Trump’s victory, writing, “You are the media now.”

And all of a sudden, Biden makes a move that fits perfectly into that narrative. Biden made the case for those who believe that the authorities care about their privileges and use the media and the justice system (and in this case, the pardon power) to consolidate their power over the masses — the masses, whose frustration led to Trump winning over Harris by a large margin.

But the ramifications of what is happening in the world’s most important democracy go beyond American politics. Biden dealt a blow to liberal democracy globally as populist alt-right parties around the world look to Trump, JD Vance or Musk as role models and sources of inspiration in identity counterrevolutions in their own countries. Not surprisingly, Trump immediately commented on Biden’s decision, calling it an abuse.