As the mainstream media and those within his circle embark on crafting the first wave of memoirs about former President Joe Biden’s time in office, one can’t help but notice his conspicuous silence—especially since he disclosed his cancer diagnosis back in May, just before the most scathing of these narratives hit the shelves.
I find myself torn about this period of quietude. On one hand, as someone who values decisive leadership from the Oval Office, I breathe a sigh of relief; we no longer have to scrutinize Biden’s every bewildered utterance to gauge the pulse of the executive branch.
Yet, as a connoisseur of schadenfreude, I must admit that I miss “Scranton Joe.”
But good news, if you haven’t been paying attention, amidst the recent tumult surrounding the Big Beautiful Bill and Independence Day festivities: Joe’s back in the spotlight, and just as blissfully oblivious as ever!
Most notably, Biden’s recent remarks at the Society for Human Resource Management in San Diego sparked attention, particularly his assertion, as reported by Fox News, that he’s been “getting calls…from several European leaders asking me to get engaged” in countering President Donald Trump.
He also mentioned that he is penning a memoir since “every president is expected to write one,” though one might think we would excuse a president who has seemingly forgotten much of his own tenure from this task. Regardless, Fox reported that he claims to be “working like hell” to finish the 500-page book by “March of this year.” (It’s currently July, in case you were wondering.)
However, amidst the frenzy over Biden’s remarks—focusing on his apparent delusions as a former president—there’s arguably insufficient attention paid to his delusions as a parent.
As noted in The Wall Street Journal’s coverage, when asked what he would most like to be remembered for, Biden replied:
“Being a good father.”
Now, I understand that many people consider themselves the best parents in the world—until they actually have children. Even those without kids must concede that some offspring can be more challenging than others. Yet, at some point, we can begin to question one’s parental skills. Joe has, to borrow a phrase from his beloved railroads, blown past that junction and derailed at the end of the line.
Biden has three children who reached adulthood. Beau Biden, who tragically passed at 46 in 2015, appeared to have fared well. But as for the other two, Joe’s parenting batting average stands at a mere .333.
Take, for instance, Hunter. Oh, dear, where do we begin?
There’s little need to elaborate on Hunter’s myriad issues; what’s troubling is how Joe Biden’s political career managed to both entrench Hunter in his problems and later extract him from them.
For instance, a nickname that dogged Joe Biden during his Senate tenure was “The Senator from MBNA.” This now-defunct Delaware-based megabank lavished financial support on Biden, who reciprocated through favorable legislation. In a piece penned by conservative commentator Byron York in The American Spectator back in 1998, it was noted that the bank had even hired Biden’s son for a lucrative position, allegedly grooming him for senior management.
Guess which son? Ding ding ding: It was Hunter. And while hindsight is 20/20, would anyone seriously believe that Hunter would have been groomed for a “senior management position” under different circumstances?
Indeed, Matthew Yglesias articulated in a Vox article back in 2020 that Hunter’s career “never really seems to have quite launched as an independent entity” from his father’s political standing. When Biden was championing Amtrak, Hunter was right there. When Joe was doing favors for MBNA, Hunter was there to pick up the crumbs. When Dad amassed considerable power on Capitol Hill, guess who else was operating primarily there? The answer is self-evident.
This connection became particularly problematic during Biden’s vice presidency, when Hunter, appearing as a low-functioning addict, was engaging in business with some of the wealthiest and most powerful entities globally. He served on the board of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma while his dad was the point person on Ukraine, doing things like boasting about how he got a powerful prosecutor, who had been investigating Burisma, fired:
Here is Joe Biden bragging about how he leveraged aid to force Ukraine into firing prosecutor Viktor Shokin.
Shokin was investigating Burisma.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 2, 2024
Nor did Hunter cease benefiting from his father’s career as Biden pursued the presidency. By the time Joe assumed office, Hunter had embarked on a new avenue as an artist, selling overpriced doodles to politically connected Democratic donors.
Once again, Joe did little to halt his son’s nepotistic endeavors.
When federal authorities eventually turned their attention to Hunter—an inevitability he has no one to blame but himself, particularly since he implicated himself in his own book—Joe initially stated Hunter wasn’t guilty of any crime (a bold claim before the legal process unfolds) and later pardoned him after he was convicted of one set of charges and pleaded guilty to another.
Many can empathize with the heartache of a child grappling with addiction, whether due to parental influence or other factors. I sympathize with you. But this situation differs in that it involves actively facilitating your son’s addiction and sense of entitlement—culminating in a pardon.
Then there’s Ashley Biden, Joe’s daughter with Jill Biden.
While Ashley is comparatively stable, that’s only when viewed alongside Hunter, so it’s not a glowing endorsement. She has also faced issues with addiction and feelings of entitlement. In her infamous leaked journal, she seemed to attribute some of her promiscuity to her father, citing “showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate)” as factors contributing to her being “hyper-sexualized [at] a young age.”
If Hunter is a swing and a miss, Ashley is, at best, an easy-out double-play ground ball in the parenting league.
Moreover, being a good parent also encompasses being a good grandparent, should one be fortunate enough to take on that role.
Let’s not forget that Joe and Jill Biden refused to recognize one of their own grandchildren due to her illegitimate birth from Hunter’s affair with Lunden Roberts.
Despite a DNA test conclusively proving that Hunter was the father, he later claimed in his memoir that “I had no recollection of our encounter.” (A stark reminder that how one fathers a child significantly impacts all aspects of life, including their own parenting.)
The situation escalated to the point where Joe and Jill were criticized for neglecting to include their granddaughter Navy Jean in the White House Christmas stockings—a remarkably petty act. This was compounded by another grandchild’s purported involvement in a disagreement with her Secret Service detail—one of those unfortunate don’t-you-know-who-I-am? scenarios—which allegedly led to the first family retaliating against the involved agents. It appears that grandparenting isn’t exactly Joe’s forte, either.
What Biden fails to recognize is that his public record as a parent mirrors his dismal track record as president, and indeed, these two roles are deeply intertwined. Yet here he is, broadcasting to the world how European leaders are still reaching out to him while expressing his desire to be remembered as “just being dad,” as if that somehow enhances his reputation.
In his comments on Wednesday, he lamented that the progress he fought so hard to achieve is being undone, attributing it to you-know-who, the successor he didn’t name, as if the individual we elected to replace him were a character from a fantasy novel.
“Many of the things I worked so damn hard, that I thought I changed in the country, are changing so rapidly,” he stated.
For most of us, the legacy we leave behind is often reflected in our children. However, for U.S. presidents, the stakes are different, as they shape the nation’s trajectory.
What does it indicate, then, that just over six months after Joe Biden vacated the White House, both his accomplishments in governance and parenting are, quite regrettably, laughable?
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal.
