I had argued previously that James Biden, Joe’s brother, had more damaging financial scandals than Hunter. And, unlike Hunter, he can’t play the crack card. The degeneracy and drug use that Republicans bet on with Hunter quickly turned into a defense. If Hunter was an out-of-control crackhead, then he couldn’t be expected not to commit crimes. And whatever he did was the result of his addiction, not as a member of a politically corrupt family.

Hunter, paradoxically, makes Joe Biden look good. Instead of the front end of a corrupt clan, Joe looks like a worried father dealing with an out-of-control son. That’s why the media ultimately embraced the laptop and its narrative after launching a redemption tour for Hunter complete with an autobiography and an art career.

James Biden is another story. 

Bank records released by Republican senators this week indicate James Biden’s company, the Lion Hall Group, received payments from a Chinese-financed consulting group in 2018, before his brother Joe announced he was running for president. Grassley says that same year James Biden and the president’s son, Hunter, received monthly retainers totaling $165,000 — $100,000 to Hunter and $65,000 to James…

In a September 2020 report with Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, Grassley alleged Hunter, James, and James’s wife Sara tapped into a line of credit Hunter set up with a Chinese business executive to purchase more than $100,000 in airline tickets, hotels and restaurants… 

CBS News has also learned more than 150 financial transactions involving either Hunter or James Biden’s global business affairs were flagged as concerning by U.S. banks for further review.

Hunter isn’t an aberration. He’s not just an addict feeding his addiction. This is just how the Biden family acts.