Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: September 15, 2023, 12:23 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Republicans will try hard to corner Joe Biden over Hunter Biden’s legal issues but it would also lead Americans to compare the level of crimes Biden junior has committed to Donald Trump’s alleged crimes. (Image: AP Photo)
Legal troubles of Hunter Biden and Trump could be the key issues that Republicans and Dems will weaponise during the 2024 election, sidelining other key issues.
The indictment of Hunter Biden will impact the upcoming elections in the United States by further dividing Americans who currently remain polarised over several issues.
Americans remain divided over racial, gender, ethnic and religious lines and the campaign season will further increase the divide leading to ‘Two Americas’, according to reports by AFP and BBC, which cited American political observers.
However, there are two main groups. Backers of former US President Donald Trump, who faces 91 federal and state criminal charges, who ardently believe that the former president is facing political persecution and victim of “deep state conspiracy” led by the Biden administration.
Then, there are supporters of US President Joe Biden, who believe that his son Hunter Biden is being unfairly pursued, despite accepting his guilt and also being a repentant drug addict, over his tax affairs and behaviour.
Hunter Biden was indicted on three federal gun charges and Biden backers believe that the prosecutor who indicted him bent to pressure exerted by Republicans who support Donald Trump.
This gives Republicans some help before the 2024 US elections by allowing them to distract themselves from Donald Trump’s own legal problems. Hunter Biden is a vulnerability for Joe Biden and Republicans seem to have been using it for their own advantage, the BBC said in a report.
Some Democrats are also using the issue to press senior Biden to step aside and pave the way for a new generation to take charge.
The BBC report also pointed out that Republicans could face a dilemma if they chose to charge at the Democrats wielding the proverbial Hunter Biden spear during a turbulent election year.
The three gun-related charges and the tax affairs and foreign dealings which have put the Bidens in a tough spot will surely impact Joe Biden’s election campaign but if the Republicans and Donald Trump try to use it extensively to target the Democrats, the report says it could then lead to Americans comparing the scale and quantity of Donald Trump’s alleged crimes with that of Hunter.
The Republicans who have backed the Second Amendment rights – right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed – could actually now come to Hunter Biden’s defence as the report outlines that there is nothing in the American Constitution which bars drug addicts from bearing arms.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is also making life harder for the Biden family with the impeachment inquiry into President Biden which claims Hunter Biden used his father’s influence in business deals and that the US President also played along.
The Republican majority is slim and the Senate is held by Democrats and the squabbling far-right House Freedom Caucus of the Republicans which often sidelines members of its own party over issues could see the impeachment vote bring results that Republicans do not want to see, that is if the enquiry goes that far.
