Italian
Jon Stewart said on “The Daily Show” Monday night that he doesn’t have a problem with President Joe Biden pardoning his son Hunter Biden, even though he had repeatedly said in the past that he wouldn’t.
“Hypocrisy isn’t illegal, nor is it particularly unusual in politics,” Stewart said. “It’s not like he’s ever going to run again, so why not take care of your kid, even if you said you weren’t gonna? I respect it; I don’t have a problem with it.”
Stewart went on to explain that, for him, the true issue is that “the rest of the Democrats made Biden’s pledge to not pardon Hunter the foundation of their defense of America, this grand experiment.” He then pointed out the “dance” Democrats had to do following the news of Biden’s pardon.
“The Democrats made this case an example of why Americans should believe in our system. And it’s hard. Democrats have the tougher road of defending our institutions and systems as being flawed, but still valuable. Republicans just run on blowing this shit up,” Stewart said. “But at every turn, Democrats keep getting caught creating a purity test for a system that they can’t seem to pass themselves.”
Popular on Variety The “Daily Show” host also empathized with Republicans’ reactions to the pardon, noting that “Biden did make this line of attack particularly available, seeing as how he spent so long saying he wouldn’t do it, because of how much he respects the system.”
President Biden announced Sunday night that he pardoned his son Hunter, who earlier this year was convicted of gun-related felony charges in Delaware and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in California.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” the president said in a statement issued Sunday night. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
