It’s pretty clear that Joe Biden loves Hunter. On the one hand, he seems to have used him which, of course, is not loving. While Beau Biden got the legitimate career (perhaps because he was not a drug addict), it was Hunter who became Biden’s bag man. Hunter traveled hither and yon with Dad, picking up massive “business” contracts along the way, all for projects that he was incapable of accomplishing, and not just because he was a drug addict. Drug addiction or not, there was nothing about Hunter’s abilities or experience that qualified him to sit on Burisma’s board.
On the other hand, putting aside Hunter’s usefulness to Daddy Biden, it’s clear from the many affectionate messages from Joe to Hunter that were found on the hard drive that Joe loves Hunter and isn’t shy about showing it. Indeed, I think part of Hunter’s problem throughout his life has been that Joe was incapable of giving him the boundaries children need. For a child traumatized by his mother’s death (and potentially affected by the head injuries he sustained in the accident that killed her), getting nothing more than a whole lot of Daddy’s love, plus all the perks of fame, power, and money was terribly destructive. This was a boy who needed boundaries and structure.
If Joe had ever shown some tough love, Hunter might have had a very different life trajectory. Biden seems to have enabled his drug habit, including looking away when Hunter engaged in massive drug and prostitute binges, such as the one at the Chateau Marmont. (It’s even possible that Biden, even if only inadvertently, funded that Chateau Marmont binge.)
Additionally, a stay in prison might have scared Hunter straight. (I’ve known a handful of middle-class boys who got scared straight in prison. So did Robert Downey, Jr.) Certainly, there was a law in place that would have sent Hunter to prison – and Biden has boasted about putting it on the books. That’s why this split-screen video of Biden boasting about crack crackdowns and Hunter sucking on his crack pipe is so powerful:
Click for Full Text!