President Joe Biden's explanation of the pardon he granted his son on Sunday night is dishonest, hypocritical, and evasive in several ways. He reneged on his repeated promises not to intervene in the federal gun and tax cases against Hunter Biden. Those promises included an explicit commitment to refrain from doing what the president ultimately did anyway. His justification—that his son was "singled out" for political reasons—bears more than a passing resemblance to President-elect Donald Trump's reflexive complaint that every civil and criminal case against him was invalid for similar reasons.
The pardon undermines the elder Biden's high-minded defense of the Justice Department's independence, which he and other Democrats have frequently described as a crucial safeguard against the abuses of self-interested politicians like Trump. Biden's defense of that turnaround also glides over his persistent support for the arbitrary, constitutionally dubious gun laws that his son violated, which the president has portrayed as crucial to preventing violence and promoting public safety.
