Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) trotted out a now-familiar defense of President Joe Biden on Sunday morning against the impeachment inquiry against him: he was just doing what any dad would do when he helped his son, Hunter Biden, make money from access to power.
Alternatively, this defense holds that Republicans are mean because Biden was just trying to help a son struggling with addiction.
I don't know what the truth is in the Biden family, nor does anyone else. I do know there was a glaring conflict of interest, which even the Obama administration flagged, and there is good evidence of corruption implicating Biden as well as Hunter and the family.
What I mean is that I don't know about the father-son relationship. I tried writing about it last week, and stopped, because I don't know.
I do suspect that there is a possibility Joe Biden used his son to go on foreign errands for cash -- and that he might even have enabled, or ignored, Hunter Biden's addictions, in doing so. Maybe he even thought the addictions were helpful: it meant Hunter Biden could be told to do things other people ordinarily wouldn't, because he was desperate for cash and knew how to manipulate people to get it.
I think that could be true; I also think Biden could just have been worried about his son when he staged a reported intervention in 2019. Maybe he was just worried about his 2020 run. Who knows.
What I do know is that this was not just as simple as a father's love for his son. This was also about Joe Biden's own greed. One part of the story does not negate the other, but both stories must be told.
This is my first broadcast from the new office and studio in Washington, DC, where I'll be for a couple of years my neighborhood back in L.A. cleans up -- and as we follow the Trump administration from a little closer up than usual.
Topics:
- The anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump
- The escalating tariff battle with various different trading partners
- The future of the Middle East peace talks, and ongoing antisemitism
- The Jeffrey Epstein files and whether they mean anything at all
- The continued crisis of the Texas floods, and stories of heroism and survival
And more!
Special guests:
- James Rosen - Newsmax chief Washington correspondent
- Bob Price - Breitbart News Texas reporter, on the ongoing floods
- Robert Cahill - Trafalgar Polling, on a new alliance of reliable pollsters
- Rabbi Yaakov Menken - Coalition for Jewish Values - on Israel & antisemitism
Tune in: 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week’s portion tells the grand story of the prophet who tried to curse people of Israel and instead ended up blessing them.
I am reminded that these portions continue to be relevant anew, as this particular reading lent the title for Israel’s recent 12 Day War against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
This week's portion includes the commandment of the red heifer -- one of the classic "irrational" commandments whose fulfillment is an expression of faith. It also includes the regrettable episode in which Moses strikes the rock.
I referred to this story in a wedding speech last night. Why was Moses punished for striking the rock in Numbers, when he struck the rock without incident in Exodus -- both for the purpose of providing water to the people?
The answer is that in the interim, the Jewish people had received the Torah, which is like the marriage contract between the people of Israel and God. In a marriage, you do not resolve things by breaking boundaries, but through love.
The additional reading, from Judges Chapter 11, is the story of Jephthah (Yiftach), a man whom the leaders spurn, but to whom they must turn to save the nation. The parallels to our present political circumstances are striking.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
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