Hunter Biden artwork attracts ethics scrutiny

Politics & Elections
41

This is a glass half-full/half-empty situation. It’s on the edge where it could be innocent or it could be a way for someone to buy influence with the presidency. If it was Ivanka peddling her paintings during the previous administration I’m sure there’d be some howling here at The Dope.

The Bidens appear to be taking reasonable steps to ensure as much as possible that the sales are legit, something the Trumps never attempted. The world is messy and there’s no way to guarantee that nothing improper is happening.

42

To tack onto gdave’s question, what job should Hunter Biden be allowed to have? Is there any job which the GOP won’t claim he doesn’t deserve?

43

A private citizen chooses to sell his artwork. The horror! I haven’t seen his work and have no idea how good he is, but if he can get someone to buy it bully for him. The idea that this buys access to Joe Biden or will cause him to owe a favor to them is crazy. At least Biden’s press secretary isn’t hawking his art on a television talk show.

44

Sure, Joe could do that. How do you know he hasn’t?

Again, and I know I keep saying this, Hunter is 51 years old. He gets to make his own financial arrangements. He doesn’t actually have to do what his father tells him.

And please correct me if I’m factually wrong here. I don’t think any adult child of a sitting U.S. President who wasn’t themselves a public official has ever put their earnings in escrow for the duration of their father’s presidency.

45

I feel like you’re missing the entire issue here. Yes, we all understand he’s a private citizen, you’ve said it a dozen times. The majority of us (at least those of us on the left) have no problem with him selling his art and collecting the cash.
Some people are suggesting that this is just a backdoor way to funnel money to the president. That is, I, a private citizen can buy a painting from Hunter, a private citizen for half a million dollars. Hunter gives the money to his dad and his dad does some political favors for me.
No one claimed it’s actually happening. It’s the definition of a manufactured scandal.

It would be interesting to see how much his art would be worth under a pseudonym.

Are you familiar with how the Right operates? They put nearly every dem in a ‘can’t win’ position.

WE GET IT. The broken record thing isn’t changing any ones mind. It’s not the issue at hand.

46

Here ya go, all in one place so you can stop saying it over and over.

47

Then, what is the issue? If the issue is that the GOP is manufacturing a scandal, then, ok, I agree, but…then why should Hunter Biden put his private earnings as a private citizen into escrow? If the issue is that this is a manufactured scandal, why not criticize those manufacturing the scandal rather than come up with “solutions” for Hunter Biden?

Here’s the thing. I don’t think some people in this thread do get it. I keep repeating it because other posters keep repeating things like the comment I was replying to, that Joe Biden should sit Hunter down and have a talk with him, as if he were a wayward child, instead of…well, I don’t want to be accused of being a broken record again, so I won’t finish that sentence.

48

Yes, if Hunter has no qualifications or experience whatsoever except sitting on boards of companies that Joe did favors for, I guess we’ll just have to let the poor guy coast by on pure nepotism forever.

I want to emphasize… Hunter Biden’s entire adult life has been benefitting from nepotism. He has done nothing under his own steam. He has zero skills that don’t involve trading on his father’s name. Even his brief, ignominious naval career was awarded in a flurry of waivers and exceptions that, collectively, wouldn’t be available to anyone else.

I’m not a right-winger, but I feel like it’s a huge liability that the left can’t honestly confront what’s going on here. That’s bad. It’s morally bad and politically bad. Of course in 2020 we had to hold our nose and lump it to keep Trump from being president again… but the longer this goes on, the worse it’s going to get.

49

See? Now THERE is a 24-karat solid gold idea. Wonder why the Bidens didn’t seem to think of it.

50

We, on the left, lost our shit loudly and repeatedly when the Trump family graft ring traded on their name (Ivanka, specifically). I don’t recall any of us saying that Ivanka is a 40 year old adult and her father can’t control what she does as a private citizen with regards to her financial affairs.

51

I sure do. Benghazi. IRS targeting conservative nonprofits. Operation Fast and Furious. But Her Emails. Solyndra. Kenya citizenship. Failure to Salute. Tan suit. And on and on.

52

I don’t know how you can understand the first part and not the second part.
One more time. It would be a good faith attempt to avoid a manufactured scandal.

No one can force a sitting president to wear a suit jacket any time they’re in the oval office, but doing so avoids Fox and Friends from crapping all over them.

Just because a scandal is fake, doesn’t mean you may not want to take steps to avoid it.
As I understand it, Hunter is a private citizen, but maybe he’s also smart enough to think ‘if I sell a painting for a half million dollars, a buying might think I can call in a favor with dad or Fox might assume that’s what’s happening’.
I mean…this is how politics works.

53
54

I mostly agree with you but there is one difference: Ivanka had an official role in the administration, sitting in on meetings and such. That makes some of her money-making deals even more problematic.

But yeah, anybody who professes that there can’t be anything wrong with Hunter’s sale is obviously a Democrat.

55

Exactly. Of Trump’s children, only Tiffany and Barron were private citizens.

56

Ivanka Trump was a public official. She was Director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship, Senior Advisor to the President, and First Daughter (yes, that was her official title at one point). She was hawking her personal fashion line while she was also serving in an official capacity in the White House, and blurred those two roles. That’s a genuine conflict of interest and ethics violation. Since I’ve been accused of being a broken record, I won’t point out the obvious difference in the roles and positions between Ivanka Trump and Hunter Biden.

Ok, you’ve convinced me, Hunter Biden is a numpty. I disagree with you on what he should have done, but since you’ve made it abundantly clear you think I’m a broken record, I don’t really see any point in trying to engage with you any further on this.

57

:roll_eyes:

58

No need. Because the focus should be on the similarities. Both stood and stand to profit from their proximity to the President. That is a problem. Granted that it’s a worse problem in the case of the Trump grift ring. But it requires one to be delusional to believe that Hunter Biden’s sudden rise in the art world isn’t directly related to who his father is.

59

Okay. Fair point :wink:

Solyndra, IIRC, is a good example of what an administration should not do.

It’s been a while and I’m fuzzy on the details, but ISTR that the Obama administration cut corners in terms of due diligence and granted loan guarantees to a corporation with some creative accounting practices (, at best).

It’s taxpayer money and official policy at issue, so it is materially different, but in terms of wisdom, judgment, and ethics, I think corners were cut on Solyndra that needn’t have been cut.

I don’t remember any Wilbur Ross or Ryan Zinke figures in Obama’s cabinet, but … we shouldn’t.

And, arguably, the tone that leads to corruption in administrations is set at the top (“the fish rots from the head”). 45’s tone was remarkable in its dissoluteness and cravenness.

IMHO, Biden set the right tone when he canned that press staffer, Ducklo, early on. It was clear, unambiguous, principle-centered, sent a message, and denied his opponents one unforced error to exploit.

It set a tone that this particular situation, IMHO, departs from – despite the obvious factual differences.

Remember “Animal House ?” There was a great line that comes to mind, here:

You better sit on that zoo fraternity of yours

Hunter may just be the ‘zoo fraternity’ on which Biden should have planned to sit … for four years.

60

Assuming that this conversation has already taken place, because it very likely has in some form, now what?