After enduring years of character assassinations by the right, Hunter Biden is in the throes of a chaotic media blitz that’s included Twitter-trolling, posting on Substack and appearances on a number of far-right podcasts, from Hitler worshipper Nick Fuentes and Russia stooge Tucker Carlson to conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. Is Joe Biden’s wayward son trying to land a lucrative podcast deal or taking one last stand to clear his name as his father battles cancer?
Whatever the reason, the latest stop on Biden’s no-holds-barred media tour saw the 56-year-old sit down with Bill Maher on his HBO series “Real Time” Friday night. And their conversation got off to a rollicking start.
“Your obituary, the third word will be ‘laptop.’ I know everything about the laptop — more things than I want to know. I’ve seen you with your dick out. I’ve seen you with a crack pipe in your mouth. My question: Are you running for president?” cracked Maher, opening things.
“I’m here to announce…,” joked Biden, before adding, “No, I haven’t [thought of it]. Here’s my thing: If I announce for president then someone should check to see if I’ve relapsed.”
Throughout their chat, Biden appeared nervous but prepared, opening up about his seven years of sobriety and saying he’s been out there speaking because “there are 50 million Americans that are still sick and suffering every day from addiction, and I get to go out there and I get to speak to them.”
Maher, meanwhile, mostly treated the Biden offspring with kid gloves, even telling him at one point, “I think I would say to you what I said to Charlie Sheen: You did some bad things, but I don’t think you’re a bad guy.” (Charlie Sheen pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex, among other things.)
Biden also acknowledged his “privilege” and argued that the money he made while his father was vice president was “a fraction of a penny” compared to what the Trump kids have made while their father was president.
“Just to put it in perspective: In the last 500 days of this administration, Don Jr.’s company has taken in $3.4 billion in Department of Defense contracts. He got a $640 million loan pushed through by the Whtie House… and that’s just a fraction of it,” explained Biden. “Forget about what they’ve done with cryptocurrency, which is a bank where they were able to go and launder their money, which is an abomination, and that doesn’t even include what Jared is doing and Ivanka is doing. He gets paid $100 million in fees by the Saudis alone for a $6.5 billion fund that he controls that’s all Gulf State money, and he’s our unelected, unappointed emissary to the Middle East for a war that nobody asked for.”
When it comes to his father Joe, who is currently suffering from Stage 4 prostate cancer, Biden said he’s apologized to him “every day” for his mistakes and it’s “one of the greatest heartaches of my life,” adding, “I can never make up for that.”