How Hunter Biden went from a pariah to a potential presidential candidate
For years, Hunter Biden was an anchor tied around the neck of his father and the Democratic Party at large.
The son of Joe Biden was beset by scandal, based around corruption accusations, a highly-publicised drug addiction and a criminal investigation that ended only after his father pardoned him.
Hunter Biden has long been a pariah in the Democratic party. But things have changed. AP
And while Hunter Biden’s name was on the lips of every conservative commentator in the US, the then-president’s son stayed silent.
Now he’s speaking his mind – and people want him to run for president himself.
Biden has become a sought-after podcast guest and a prolific poster on X, taking swipes at Donald Trump and the Republican Party at large.
“They built a platform in the middle of town, tied me to a post, and spent five years throwing tomatoes and setting me on fire,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“But when the crowd finally lost its bloodlust, I was still standing.
“And now, I have the bullhorn.”
Biden was the black sheep of the Biden family for years. While his father Joe was vice president, his brother Beau was an up-and-coming politician in Delaware, with rumblings he too was destined for the White House.
Biden fell into a deep addiction to crack cocaine after his brother’s death, before getting clean. During his father’s presidency, Biden stayed largely quiet while others spoke about him.
President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. AP
Now, he is speaking to just about everybody, making countless podcast appearances this year.
This includes a sit-down with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
That interview has yet to air, but the pair reportedly nearly came to blows.
Biden speaks like his father did as a younger man, with a motormouth energy and an indignant anger and passion.
And while the elder Biden peppered his answers with folksy terms like “Gosh”, Hunter is much more prolific with another four-letter word.
And he is happy to share his unfiltered opinions on Republicans, as well as Democrats who criticised his father and reporters he viewed as being timid towards Trump.
“(Trump) turned to a reporter on the plane and said, ‘Quiet, piggy,’” Biden said in an interview with journalist Jim Acosta.
“Why is it that none of your former colleagues turned to him and said, ‘Go f— yourself, Mr President’?”
Hunter Biden blamed his addiction in part on trauma over the childhood car crash that killed his mother and badly injured him and his brother. Joe Biden
His unfiltered and passionate opinions have drawn the attention of countless people across social media, who are now pushing for him to run for president.
Betting site Polymarket has the odds of Biden announcing a presidential bid before the end of the year at 6 per cent – higher than some other big names.
But Biden himself has denied any ambitions to run for office.
“I am truly, astonishingly honoured that anyone would say that in seriousness,” he said in a podcast this week.
“But I have no aspiration for that. I don’t want people to be infected with the idea that they’ll have put up with me in any elected office.”
And yet, when an X account posted a doctored image predicting he would beat JD Vance in a 2028 presidential matchup, Biden replied with three letters: “LFG”.
That’s short for “Let’s f—ing go.”
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