The Kids are Alright

“I don’t mind other guys dancing with my girl
That’s fine, I know them all pretty well
But I know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the kids, they’re alright
The kids are alright.” — The Who

It’s hard to get past kids in an election. There seems to be an unwritten norm (remember talking about norms yesterday?) that kids under the age of 18 are off-limits in politics. When you have two geezers running for president the chances are good you are going to be dealing with kids older than 18. When you start talking about multiple kids you are increasing the odds that one of them will have an issue.

Enter Hunter Biden. Those siphoning off some life off the Trump campaign are trying really hard to get Biden on something. I get it, It’s all a distraction. So, there’s all kinds of stories about Hunter. He got a cushy job in Ukraine even though he has no discernable skills. He had a major drug problem. Now, there are even rumors that he had sex with minors in China. Maybe he was the Zodiac killer.

There are two immediate takeaways when you take a step back. First, why should we care? Hunter Biden isn’t running for president. He isn’t even running for dog catcher. So, why do we care about what Hunter Biden has done in his life?

This point needs some extension. The argument is that Joe Biden used his power and influence to give Hunter some breaks and to cut him some slack. If Joe were running for father of the year we would have a definite conversation. There is no doubt that Joe loves his son just as he loved Beau and his other children. There is also no doubt that he chose to help Hunter by doing everything he could to help him overcome his problems. Maybe he should have used tough love. You could certainly argue that. Still, there has been no credible reporting (emphasis on credible) that he used any undue influence he held as vice president or a senator to help him overcome his problems.

The second point is that when you bring in one kid into the conversation then we must look at the other children as well. Trump has four adult children. One just graduated from law school. Good for her. The other three are knee deep in their own legal quagmires. Eric Trump recently plead the fifth when asked to testify about more problems with the Trump foundation. Ivanka could be knee deep in unfair business practices concerning trade deals she has gotten for her personal products.

Donnie Jr. may not have those specific problems, but he is the one that has appeared to be high in public appearances for the campaign and on video. Meanwhile, daddy was busted by the New York Times on his returns both paying all three a salary and then writing off expenses where he paid them as consultants for doing the same work. Thus, the story of this whole campaign is coming down to Trump making lots of accusations of Biden, but only being guilty of the same thing to a greater degree.

Mind you, Donald Jr is a grown man that is nearly my age. He has his own broken marriage and no one is really quite sure what he has accomplished on his own. If he has a drug problem it is nothing to laugh about. Drug problems are no laughing matter. I’d be all for leaving him and his siblings out of this whole thing. Let them face whatever music they need to face, but let them face it with a shred of privacy and dignity intact.

This is one of those areas where Donald Sr. appears to be almost human. He wants to shield his children from as much harm as humanly possible. At the end of the day that is what we all want to do as parents. We never want to see our children get hurt. Balancing that desire with the desire to see them become full functioning adults is the whole ballgame when it comes to parenting. Maybe Trump failed on that count with one or more of his children. Maybe Biden failed on that count with Hunter. Does that mean either of them are unqualified to be president? Maybe. Maybe not. It might simply mean that we can’t vote for either for father of the year.