Everything about the New York Times story on the investigation into Hunter Biden reeks of bad faith beginning with, “Hunter Biden Paid Tax Bill, but Broad Federal Investigation Continues”. 

There’s no way a federal investigation into possible criminal behavior by the son of a top Republican would have garnered that headline. This isn’t just burying the lede, it’s dumping it in a ditch at 2 AM and driving away at high speed.

The article’s tone is reluctant, it drags its feet and does everything possible to avoid talking about what it’s talking about. The emphasis is on how hard it will be to charge Hunter Biden.

Conservatives have zoomed in on the seeming admission that the Hunter Biden laptop is real. The Times briefly mentions that, “Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.”

The New York Post and the Daily Mail are doing a victory dance and some conservatives are championing is as some kind of admission.

As usual, they’re missing the bigger picture.

Where did the Times actually get the email, why was this story signed off on and published? What is the theme of the story? Come on, man.

The story is about how difficult it will be to prosecute and convict Hunter Biden of anything. It’s right there in the top paragraphs. Why produce such an article, to lay the groundwork for explaining why Hunter Biden won’t be prosecuted.

The media churns out articles like this all the time. Much as with the Soviet press, you have to understand why an article exists rather than what it says. The real message is in the existence of such an article in a media environment that has carefully denounced and censored any mentions of the scandal.

What it does is tell us two things.

1. There are indeed some damning things involving Hunter Biden that have come up in the investigation. If there weren’t, this article wouldn’t be necessary. 

2. The fix is in. But it’ll take a PR campaign to explain why Hunter Biden won’t face any charges. Consider this to be the first of a series.