Hunter Biden nurses his public image with viral media campaign

“I’m Hunter Biden,” he wrote in his first post on X. “You’ve never actually heard from me.”

For some Democrats, Hunter Biden’s decision to broach his checkered past is unwelcome, and perhaps damaging for a party that wants to focus chiefly on President Donald Trump. 

His reentry into public life is taking place alongside sniping at first lady Jill Biden, who upset staffers from Bidenworld with her decision to release a book that reopened old wounds about Trump’s 2024 election victory.

“I wish him well in his recovery, but he shouldn’t kid himself into thinking he’s doing either Democrats or his father any favors by reemerging and adopting a high profile,” said Garry South, a Democratic strategist who added that Hunter Biden should “go live his life quietly and discreetly.”

To Hunter Biden, the foray into the public spotlight is giving him a chance to talk about overcoming addiction and rebut what he says are falsehoods from his father’s critics. 

“Be grateful for all of that suffering because there is no way that you are here sitting in the chair right now without all of that,” Biden told actor Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert Monday.

At another point, he told Shepard he “welcomed” the scrutiny of his foreign business dealings during his father’s political career and that while he’s made mistakes, particularly when it comes to drug usage, his conduct had been vilified or exaggerated by Republicans.

“I really don’t care about rehashing that,” Biden said of his business dealings abroad. “But I’m more than willing to, and welcome it.”

When asked why political figures such as Newsom, widely considered a future candidate for president in 2028, were embracing Biden, one Democratic strategist told the Washington Examiner that “Newsom is running to win the MSNBC primary” and argued that it benefited Hunter Biden, too, to go on his podcast.

“Hunter generates clicks, and getting clicks is Newsom’s goal,” the source said. “Hunter has nothing to lose at this point, so what we have here is someone willing to say anything paired with someone willing to do anything for engagement.”

Indeed, Hunted Biden drew headlines when he jokingly told Newsom that he would run in 2028, “but only as your VP.”

Hunter Biden stoked further speculation on the same day he wrote on X: “No Democrat has won the White House this century without a Biden on the ticket.”

Republicans are welcoming the virality surrounding Hunter Biden’s reemergence, and even Trump helped elevate his stature when he fielded a question earlier this month about his 2028 prospects.

“You would think that the past has something to do with winning an election, and I would say his past is not the greatest,” Trump told reporters, before taking a dig at Graham Platner, the Democrats’ Senate nominee in Maine. “Hey, if the guy from Maine can do well, I guess Hunter could do well, too.”

Trump’s allies, for their part, dismiss the notion that the president himself helped give Hunter Biden a bigger political stage with his years of criticism.

“Hunter Biden was a household name because of the Biden family scandals and influence peddling, not to mention Joe Biden’s corrupt pardon of his son,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told the Washington Examiner. “The only thing keeping this story alive is the Biden family’s own conduct.”

The go-to defense for Democrats pushing back on those GOP attacks is to point to allegations of corruption in Trump’s second term.

Former Biden campaign and administration official Andrew Bates told the Washington Examiner, “Everything Republicans attacked Hunter Biden for looks quaint next to the unprecedented corruption of the Trump administration.”

“Hunter’s right to call them out, and to go onto platforms with big audiences who haven’t been able to hear many Democrats make their case in their own words,” Bates said. “The irony is that in many ways Trump gave Hunter this opportunity by tearing into him for actions that are much more minor than what Trump and his family do every day.”

Bates was publicly criticized by Jill Biden this month for asking why she was publishing her book so close to the midterm elections, a question that helped set off the spat with Bidenworld.

HUNTER THE SNARK

Some Democrats even believe Hunter Biden resonates with some parts of the voting electorate, given his unscripted commentary.

“He has broken through and is very well liked by nonpolitical people in my life,” one Democrat told the Washington Examiner of Biden. “People see him as refreshing and unrehearsed.”