We All Experience Tragedy. Why Are Joe And Hunter Biden Allowed To Hide Behind It?

Joe Biden and Hunter Biden have experienced tragedy. That’s undeniable. Unfortunately, far too often, such undeniable tragedy been used to their political advantage.

That may sound callous. But it’s true.

On December 18, 1972, shortly after Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate, his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident in Hockessin, Delaware, when Neilia’s station wagon was hit by a semi-trailer truck as she pulled out from an intersection. Joe and Neilia Biden’s sons, Beau (aged 3) and Hunter (aged 2) both survived.

Then, in August 2013, Beau Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. After various treatments, Beau died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on May 30, 2015, at the age of 46.

Now, both of these events are, without a doubt, horrendous and unimaginable tragedies which no person should have to experience. It’s also important to acknowledge that no person, whether a supporter or critic of Joe Biden or Hunter Biden, should ever argue that the pain and grief suffered as a result is anything other than genuine.

However, it is also true that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden have used this tragedy for political gain, and as a shield from criticism and responsibility.

Firstly, Joe Biden routinely uses tragedy as a political lubricant, and the Left applaud him for it. For example, Politico published a piece in January 2019 titled, “How Grief Became Joe Biden’s ‘Superpower.’”

“There is no person in American politics today whose life has been so shaped by loss and grief. The long arc of Biden’s career is all but bracketed by tragedy,” Michael Kruse wrote. Later, Kruse added that “I wanted to talk to Biden about all this, of course, but he declined. Those close to him say he’s wary of feeding the perception he’s in any way using the death of his son to advance his career.” However, Kruse immediately acknowledges that Biden “has talked about his grief in speeches,” as well as “with Stephen Colbert.”

Biden often uses this image of “grief” to avoid having to justify his policy positions, and to even avoid criticism for falsehoods told in the process.

For example, on Thursday, Joe Biden attempted to use his shared experiences of tragedy to associate with those grieving after instances of gun violence in order to promote his latest string of gun control policies, which are both historically ineffective and unconstitutional. 

Pres. Biden: ‘Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and international embarrassment’ pic.twitter.com/i1ZAAvZdhn

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 9, 2021

The truth doesn’t matter, because — like so many Democrats before him — Joe Biden uses emotion — not factual reality — as his platform.

While Joe Biden is subtle with this tactic, Hunter Biden is shamelessly explicit, using past tragedies to justify his behavior under the umbrella of “addiction.” All while, of course, ignoring his real scandals.

The Left are, of course, only too happy to embrace this strategy. For example, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel laid the groundwork of victimhood for Hunter Biden by saying that he “had such a hard life” given the “tragedy” his family had experienced … while pitching Hunter Biden’s book.

Kimmel frets that Hunter Biden has “had such a hard life” given the level of “tragedy” in his family that has come to now include his drug addiction. Hunter adds that he wrote the book “to humanize people suffering from addiction” and provide “real hope” pic.twitter.com/aLqHR9QWkV

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 9, 2021

Not only that, tragedy appears to have been used to avoid legitimate concerns regarding Hunter Biden’s conduct regarding overseas deals. When a career official at the State Department raised concerns about Hunter Biden’s potential conflict of interest in Ukraine, for example, he claimed that he was “told that it wasn’t appropriate to discuss the matter because of the health struggles of Biden’s eldest son, Beau.”

Again, the existence of tragedy is undeniable, and it is important to acknowledge that the pain and suffering caused to Joe Biden and Hunter Biden is inarguably genuine. However, Joe and Hunter Biden have crossed a line by leveraging tragedy.

Joe Biden avoids justifying his unjustifiable policies by drawing an association between his pain and the pain of others. Hunter Biden escaped investigation because of the health concerns of another individual, and today is presented as a victim of circumstance, not an alleged felon.

One of the most unfortunate facts of life is that we will all, at some point, experience tragedy. Some will experience more than others, but it will come for us all, even if it exists solely in the form of our own inevitable demise.

Many of us have lost friends, brothers, sisters, parents, children. And yet, we are still expected to justify our own decisions, and obey the law.

If we can’t lie or avoid responsibility for alleged crimes by hiding behind tragedy, then neither should the President of the United States, and neither should his son.

Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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