Marcia Meoli: GOP continues to lower the bar

I am concerned about Republican interest and treatment of President’s Biden surviving son, Hunter.

This concern stems not from any specific loyalty that I have for Hunter. I can state that I have neither admiration nor condemnation of him; he is not a public official and, while I understand that he has made mistakes in his life, I cannot see why it should be anyone’s business, once we realize that it does not relate in any way to the functioning of our government or anything else that affects our country.

He is not on the public payroll and there has not been any evidence that his father, President Biden, has pulled any strings to affect any investigation or prosecution of him.

No, my concern is related to why the Republicans are doing this what is says for them and any sense of decency they may have at this point in history.

President Biden was married to Neilia Hunter Biden until 1972, when she and their daughter were killed in a car crash. President Biden’s 2 sons, Beau and Hunter, were hurt seriously in that incident, but survived. Beau Biden was a well-respected politician, lawyer and army officer.  He died in 2015 of geo-blastoma at the age of 46.

I know what it is like to lose a husband long before we ever thought that would happen. I can only imagine what it is like to lose a child. President Biden has endured the untimely loss of a wife and 2 children. He also needed to endure the difficulties of his surviving son, Hunter, over the years. Hunter’s problems with drugs, debt, taxes and personal issues are well known. He recently pled to misdemeanors and is trying to get keep his life on track, including that he is apparently now sober.

But Republicans in the House and elsewhere are not done with Hunter. They have accused him of many things without proof: corruption in Ukraine, attempting to tie President Biden into this during his time as Vice-President, money laundering in China, perhaps other things.

Not content with the work done by governmental investigators, these Republicans subscribe to unfounded theories about Hunter and are trying to tar President Biden with this, even though they have no evidence for that. There is now some evidence that Rudolf Guiliani and Steve Bannon may have violated laws themselves in accessing, copying, manipulating and/or dissembling Hunter’s laptop in and after 2020, to fabricate stories by Hunter and President Biden.

In Wikipedia, Hunter is described as an attorney, businessman and private-equity investor. It also mentioned work as a lobbyist, banker, attorney and public administration official. I particularly looked at the last item on this list.  Hunter served in the Commerce Department during the Clinton Administration. That was when President Biden was a Senator and before he was in either the Obama or his own Administration.

So, whatever Hunter did that was questionable, he did it on his own time and not working for any governmental position doled out to him by/for his father. Without this connection, I question the legitimacy of the Republican effort to continue to open these wounds. President Biden made sure that the Trump appointee investigating Hunter stayed on the job and completed that work without interference. Hunter is getting a criminal record as a result and was likely treated harsher, nor more lenient, because of his family connections.

Do Republicans simply want to hurt President Biden personally by continuing to pursue and defame his remaining son? What if their constant attacks cause Hunter to relapse and incur substantial damage in his life? What good does this do for anyone and particularly the American people? And how can Republicans justify this and turn a deaf ear to all the things that occurred with the Trump Administration and for Trump’s benefit? How many of Trump’s relatives were directly on the government payroll during Trump’s Presidency?

This is another low point in a long list of low points with the present Republican Party. When will they stop and re-join the country in working to solve real problems for people? And when will they start treating the President as a rival rather than an enemy?

— Community Columnist Marcia Meoli is a Holland attorney and resident. Contact her at meolimarcia@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Marcia Meoli: GOP continues to lower the bar