That the mainstream media goes with the 'Republicans seize' or 'Republican pounce' narrative is all too common an occurrence, even and including when it comes the crimes and shady business dealings of Hunter Biden. USA Today's article on Saturday provided a prime example of that, with "'Trying to slime the president': Will GOP attacks on Hunter Biden hurt Joe Biden in 2024?" Even more ridiculous is this isn't some op-ed that the outlet published. It's a so-called 'news' piece from Michael Collins, their White House Correspondent.
The piece was published on Saturday morning, with a tweet including such a word as "foibles" going up not long after. It faced intense mockery and a thorough ratio. As our friends at Twitchy put it so well that same morning, "we already have a winner of today's Hack Media Headline of the Day award!"
Hunter Biden's foibles provide ammunition for Republicans who want to inflict harm on Joe Biden ahead of 2024 presidential campaign. https://t.co/5eQkuBpIJJ
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 29, 2023
USA Today last used the term in 2009 to describe the late Ted Kennedy, according to Noam Blum.
Last time USA Today used "foibles" as a euphemism for someone's bad behavior, they were talking about Ted Kennedy.https://t.co/dEpbA5dy61 https://t.co/vI9yoEMCbW pic.twitter.com/2AHLUc1f5o
— Noam Blum 🚡 (@neontaster) July 29, 2023
The article is problematic from start to finish.
That House Committee Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and the Committee's attorneys had filed a brief trying to stop Hunter’s plea deal last week--a deal which indeed fell apart after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika sensed something amiss--is mentioned, but not that Hunter Biden's attorneys were accused of deceiving the court the night before to block that brief. That seems like a rather big omission, but on Collins' piece went, mentioning those "foibles" that the first son has been involved in:
The White House and congressional Democrats suspect the GOP is using Hunter Biden to advance its own political agenda: To damage Joe Biden heading into next year’s election. Hunter Biden, a 53-year-old attorney and businessman, holds no public office and has no official role in his father’s government — unlike Ivanka Trump who held a policy job out of the White House as did her husband Jared Kushner. But his foibles have provided ammunition for those who want to inflict harm on Joe Biden and his presidency.
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Not only did Collins use that word, he also showed how entrenched he is with the mainstream media that is so shamelessly supportive of Democrats by bringing Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner needlessly into this.
There's then reference of President Joe Biden through mention of author Joshua Kendall. NBC News already pulled that stunt last week, with regards to the devoted family man the president supposedly is, and they too got savagely mocked for it.
What follows is an entire subheader of how "Hunter Biden's foibles fuel GOP attacks."
Examples include House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) lambasting the president for not acknowledging his seventh grandchild, Hunter's daughter. The president and First Lady Jill Biden, as Collins mentioned in his piece, just recently acknowledged the little girl's existence. It came in the form of a statement for PEOPLE magazine, as part of a Friday night news dump.
Then there's Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) holding up sexually explicit photos of Hunter Biden and prostitutes at a House Oversight Committee hearing earlier this month. While it's been popular fodder for the left, it was to highlight the legitimate concern that Hunter was violating the Mann Act by transporting those women for prostitution. He then wrote them off as business expenses.
Collins also includes Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) referencing the idea of opening up an impeachment inquiry into the president:
Hunter Biden’s personal and professional transgressions – which range from substance abuse and fathering a daughter out of wedlock to questionable business dealings in China and Ukraine and legal issues over his taxes – have provided sensational grist for his and his father’s Republican agitators.
...
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ratcheted up the rhetoric even further, suggesting last week that Republican investigations into Hunter Biden’s business dealings could trigger an impeachment inquiry against his father.
Republicans have been trying to tie Joe Biden to his son’s overseas business dealings and point to unverified claims that Hunter Biden put his father, who was vice president at the time, on the phone with foreign business associates. Three GOP-led committees also have opened a joint investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the tax charges against Hunter Biden amid what they claim is improper interference in the case.
While Collins wants to sweep such concerns that the president may be compromised under the rug, there's a whole lot going on. As even he's forced to admit, there's three House committees investigating the first son. It's part of keeping promises to the American people.
Damning information keeps coming in by the day, with the New York Post publishing multiple reports on Saturday about how Hunter's laptop could very well implicate his father when it comes to those shady business dealings. The House Oversight Committee is looking to speak to one of Hunter's former best friends, Devon Archer, on Monday. In the Democratic-controlled Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has also been looking to get to the bottom of this.
There's also once more mention of that failed plea deal from Wednesday, which Collins fails to mention would have not only allowed Hunter to avoid jail time, but would have given him immunity from other crimes.
"Wednesday’s court hearing on the tax evasion case took a dramatic turn when Hunter Biden’s plea agreement with prosecutors collapsed amid questions over the terms of the deal," Collins phrased it.
It's finally, towards the end of the article, that Collins once more brings the president into this, even trying to downplay Hunter's scandals by pointing to "antics" that other presidents' children were part of, with an unreal lack of self-awareness:
Privately, the White House views congressional investigations into the president’s son as a politically motivated abuse of power by the House Republican majority to hurt Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign.
For his part, Joe Biden has made no effort to distance himself from his son. “I’m very proud of my son,” he told reporters after Hunter Biden struck the plea agreement on the tax evasion charges. Hunter Biden has attended state dinners and sometimes joins his father and other family members for weekends at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
No other child of a sitting president who didn't hold a public role has faced the same level of scrutiny as Hunter Biden, said David Hopkins, an associate professor of political science at Boston College and an expert on presidential politics and polarization.
At times, the antics of other presidential offspring have caused angst for their fathers.
...
Yet, “there’s no historical parallel to how much Hunter Biden has been the target of the congressional opposition,” Hopkins said.
The president doesn't need Republicans looking to uncover the truth as to how much his son may have implicated him in order for his reelection campaign to be taking hits. He's doing that all on his own. Even fellow Democrats don't want Biden running again, and his reelection campaign looks to be in trouble, causing some to wonder how far the president will make it before he decides he's not running after all.
His poll numbers are terrible. At this point in his presidency, he's only more popular than Jimmy Carter, who was a one-term president. RealClearPolitics (RCP) currently shows Biden with a 42.5 percent approval rating, while 53.8 percent disapprove.
None of that is mentioned in Collins' article. Instead, his section to close the article speaks to a June poll about voter priorities and a couple of voters.
In case there’s ever a question about whether the mainstream media will stick by Democrats, here’s the proof. It’s no wonder the American people are sick of it.
They are not hated enough.
— Scotty P 🎸 (@Scott_N_W_No) July 29, 2023
It really is impossible to hate the news media too much.
— Wynn Duffy 🇱🇹 (@WynnDuffyOG) July 29, 2023
The propaganda press summed up in one laughably absurd headline https://t.co/VTHYD7s14u
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) July 29, 2023
"Foibles".
— Blue State Snooze (@BlueSnoozeBlue) July 29, 2023
Federal gun charges are now "foibles".
This is why the MSM has become a laughingstock. https://t.co/9IlZCi88O9
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