WILMINGTON, Delaware — After Hunter Biden was convicted of three federal felonies Tuesday morning, Townhall walked around Wilmington to ask residents, who know the Bidens best, what they thought of the First Son's guilty verdict.
Many of the Wilmingtonians we talked to were floored to hear that the president's son wasn't acquitted on all charges, given who his famous father is and that the trial practically took place in Biden's backyard.
"It's Bidenworld out here," one woman, who works for the local government, told Townhall. "I have a lot of thoughts," the state employee said, but declined to appear on video for fear of retaliation.
We were sauntering along bustling Market Street, a so-called "tourist trap" lined with security officers posted outside every other shop. It's a common sight in the crime-infested city — the stomping grounds of ol' Joe and a honeypot for "crackhead" Hunter, whose cocaine-chasing chronicles are indelibly carved into the town's lore.
If we wanted a true taste of Wilmington, though, another one of the townsfolk advised, "Head down 4th Street until you reach Rodney."
"That's his block!" she said, cheekily referring to "Hunter Biden's street corner" at the intersection of Rodney St and West 4th, where he admittedly, as shown in court, smoked crack while sleeping on a car parked there.
Hunter's drug addiction, which his defense team disputed at trial, is public knowledge around town, according to those native to Biden's home turf.
"He's definitely a crackhead," a lifelong local, who "grew up with" the First Family, said of Hunter Biden. "I've lived here for 30 years. Total crackhead."
"Of course, he is guilty," a woman waiting for a bus at Rodney Square, the city's center, said matter-of-factly. "He was over West Side buying crack. He got the gun, lied on the thing."
"Yeah, he's guilty!" a bystander piled on, adding: "This should have happened a really, really long time ago."
The initial speaker, perched on a park wall steps from the federal courthouse, said that although it's "great" he was found guilty, Hunter Biden "still shouldn't be allowed [to be] roaming the streets" as a convicted felon. "And it shouldn't matter who the man is: son of the president, the king, whoever. He shouldn't be allowed to walk away. He should be held until his next court date."
Sentencing is supposed to happen sometime in mid-October. Until then, Hunter is out on bond, free to come and go as he pleases, as long as he alerts authorities of any international travel plans.
"If it was me doing it [lying on a federal firearms form] and I got the [three] felonies, I'd be right behind the bars right now. I wouldn't even be speaking to you. And that's what should have happened to him," she said.
Reactions were similar near the downtown Salvation Army.
"If it anybody else — black, white, blue, or green — they'd be locked the f**k up," a black man wearing an autism awareness "Support Squad" shirt said. "How you gonna get a gun charge 'cause you the president's son and you sitting here and you gettin' bomb sh*t? Get anybody else in Delaware locked up. He left us hanging like a motherf**er, and I don't even give a damn—"
"I can bet they gonna drop that charge," his beanie-clad pal, puffing a cigarette, interjected. "Watch."
"They gonna drop it," the first guy agreed, repeating, "They gonna drop it," as his friend nodded assuredly.
"He was actually just found guilty today," Townhall informed them.
"Woooooow! See! Look! See!" the second man shouted.
"Whaaaat?!" the initial individual reacted, his jaw dropped. "That's the first for me."
Even his cellphone was shocked, as a ringtone jingle singing "You seeing this?" played on repeat.
"I want to see the description first before I believe in that," said the man sporting the beanie and crossing his arms in disbelief.
"If it was me and my criminal background, they would have railroaded my a** and Delaware be railroading my a** for a very long time," the first man stated, silencing his cellular. Incensed by the news, his surprise swiftly turned to outrage.
"So yeah, Biden's son deserved what he get," he continued, "and every other Biden in between."
Ranting and raving, he launched a tirade denouncing what he sees as unequal treatment under the law: "If I had a gun charge right now, no license, nothing, the cop pull up on me, threw me against the f**king wall, I'm going straight to jail. I ain't shoot nobody, kill nobody. I'm going straight to jail."
"I'm going to turnkey," his buddy joined in, cackling out of the camera's frame. "Straight to jail, yup."
In the background, a third middle-aged man, leaning on a trashcan with a boombox placed atop it, laughed in agreement.
Continuing, the fuming man remarked: "If our law system says that we gotta freedom of f**king carrying guns and sh*t, I can carry a gun, but then you tell me I gotta license the motherf**ker. So whether I got a license to carry or not, if I had a gun or shoot it or not, I would be in jail." He punctuated his last sentence with short, staccato pronunciations, while flailing a bottle of Brisk lemonade about.
"If I drive my car and hit three people, they're not supposed to let me walk on the streets and walk around every single day," he expressed emphatically. "No, they would lock me up then and there. I would have went straight to jail, lost my license, and all that stuff, right then and there."
"There's no way in hell [...] the president's son should be walking the streets the whole time before trial. Anybody else would be locked up," he proclaimed, pivoting back to the topic of Hunter Biden's lax pre-trial release conditions.
"I do not condone it, and I will not be voting for Biden at all!" he declared.
Two black Trump supporters, lounging in the front entryway of a residential building blocks behind Market Street, indicated they're not backing Biden either. (As for Trump, "I'm tired of people saying he's racist. That's my guy!" the one said, sitting on a staircase's concrete landing and haphazardly swinging his legs over the ledge.)
They, too, were dumbfounded to find out that Hunter Biden did not get off scot-free.
"He wasn't charged with a felony though?" one of the two young Trumpers, pacing between the porch and the sidewalk's curb, inquired.
"Yes, he was. In fact, he was hit with three," Townhall told them.
"Oh sh*t!" they yelled in unison.
They also asked not to be filmed since they knew little to nothing about the Hunter Biden case. Hunter Biden's seven-day gun trial had garnered scant mainstream media coverage and a fourth of the fanfare that the Trump trial in New York City received.
"I just know he's a tax fraud," a man on Market Street said, citing Hunter Biden's separate California tax evasion case. "I don't know much about [the gun trial]. I just think he's guilty for the fraud—for the tax money. He cheated his taxes."
Following his firearm conviction, Hunter Biden is scheduled to stand trial this September for allegedly evading taxes on millions in income from his foreign firms.
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