Those aristocratic Bidens
I came across these passages written by Hunter Biden in texts to Devon Archer in 2019. At the time, Archer had been arrested by the DOJ. I find the texts quite revealing:
Every great family is persecuted prosecuted in the us (sic),” Biden wrote. “You are part of a great family — not a side show not deserted by them even in your darkest moments.”
“That’s the way Bidens are different and you are a Biden. It’s the price of power and the people questioning you truly have none whereas you do through perseverance and poise,” Biden added, appearing to refer to the DOJ.
It reminds me of his father Joe’s strange quote, “My word as a Biden.” Who talks about themselves and their family that way? Now, there are indeed some families in which political and/or financial power (or both) has been wielded for many generations – political or financial dynasties. Historically, we’re speaking of perhaps the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Bushs, the Vanderbilts, or in Europe royalty like the Tudors or the Romanovs or the Windsors.
But the Bidens? No. One person, Joe, has been a senator for umpteen million years. And then at the time Hunter was writing that, Joe had been a vice president for two terms, having been selected by a popular president for that role even though Joe was quite unpopular with the public. And that was it.
And yet Hunter speaks of being a Biden as though it is some sort of aristocracy, a “great family.” And at the same time he presents them as targets because of this – yet in what way had they been targeted at the time? In no way at all, as far as I can see, except for what Archer (a non-family member) was complaining about, which was his own investigation.
I remember thinking when Joe said “you have my word as a Biden” that he was having illusions of grandeur. Or delusions of grandeur in his case. I wondered if I was the only one who found it horribly, insultingly, snooty. And I too thought of the Kennedys and the Bush’s, and I wondered if he thought himself their equal. Apparently he does. It was, in a word, arrogant. But that’s because I certainly don’t think of him as their equal. And I’m sure they don’t either.
I will say, though, that being surrounded by deferential people can turn a person’s head. On several occasions I have been in charge of an American embassy — not the Ambassador, but what is called Chargé d’Affaires — the person who is in charge during an ambassador’s absence. It’s heady stuff having senior government officials and other diplomats calling you Excellency, and I kept reminding myself I still put my pants on one leg at a time and all the deference was to the office and not to me personally. Joe (and clearly Hunter too) has let it go to his head.
Some groups in rural Nigeria have a person who follows the king around — and people who are visiting the king — and shout the whole time that these people are just normal people and not to think of them as special. It is a tradition that is supposed to prevent a person from becoming arrogant, but it is so clearly just a tradition that I don’t know if is really successful. And I found the noise irritating. Besides which I wasn’t about to become arrogant about making a courtesy call on a rural chief. I wish I could remember what the position is called, but that was 40 years ago.
I think the Bidens need one of those.
The Biden clan appears to be an organized crime family.
If American comedy still existed, can you imagine the laughs from a sitcom on the Biden family?
Joe blundering into walls, blurting out crazy accusations towards strangers, fondling female children, and challenging any male who doubts him to push-up contests.
Hunter constantly tugging Joe’s sleeve to say hello on speakerphone to “clients” for the sake of “the brand”, while wondering what happened to the dime bag he could have sworn was waived in when he went through White House security.
Dr. Jill demanding to be called by her title, while calming Joe down with another super-size waffle ice cream cone and making sure Joe gets his Dr. Feelgood shot before public appearances.
This material writes itself. Could have been comedy gold for Saturday Night Live except for one little problem — the Bidens are Democrats.
What might have been…
huxley–
The Bidens need a reprise of the 1792 version of the “Ça ira”:
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira
les aristocrates à la lanterne!
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira
les aristocrates, on les pendra!
huxley may be interested in the fact that the “Ça ira” became the regimental quick march of the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1793, when the Brits were getting the worst of it at the Battle of Famars in northern France. Tired of listening to the French playing the “Ça ira” over and over again, the colonel called his drum major and asked him to score the tune for the British band, saying he would “beat the French to their own damned tune.” You can hear today’s regimental band playing the march and listen to the story of the battle here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wRxUMxPh8&ab_channel=PatrioticArchiveII
And yes, the royal crown atop the regimental drum major’s mace is a nice touch of irony.
Never underestimate a human being’s ability to rationalize. It’s likely he believes this crap.
Some how Gilbert Godfried telling the Aristocrats joke seems appropriate. (It’s kind of dirty. Definitely not safe for work.)
PA+Cat:
I notice that Sarah Hoyt has made:
______________________________
les aristocrates à la lanterne!
the aristocrats to the lamppost!
______________________________
…a catchphrase in her blog musings, usually associated with #TeamHeadsOnPikes. I’m sure she means both in the nicest possible way.
I’ve got the Edith Piaf YouTube link for the song as “already seen,” perhaps on your recommendation:
–Edith Piaf, “Ça Ira — It’ll Be Fine” (French & English Subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9VoRmjxvPs
The Little Sparrow could belt it to the back rows!
huxley–
I remember sending you the Piaf link– I think when you asked about the meaning of Sarah Hoyt’s catchphrase. Yes, Piaf certainly had a set of pipes, as the Irish would say.
It seems as if Biden was made for the phrase, “a legend in his own mind.”
I don’t think Biden is invoking any kind of aristocratic status when he gives his “word as a Biden”. Time was, a dad could direct his child away from low behavior by saying some thing like “We don’t do that”, meaning something like “That’s not what we do in this family.”
The repulsive thing about Biden invoking his word as a Biden is, it’s a badly misplaced performance.
I suspect that Joe and Hunter believe those notions to an extent. To some extent it is true that they, even then (the writing of Hunter’s messages), are a powerful family. There is clearly some powerful network of corruption that can work to their advantage.
But, my primary impression of those messages is that Hunter is telling Devon what Hunter feels he needs to hear. Or more bluntly, Hunter is being manipulative. He is telling Devon that he should hang tough, keep his mouth shut, and he will be taken care of. And probably rewarded afterwards.
Inigo Joe Biden: I could give you my word as a Biden.
The Man in Black: No good. I’ve known too many Bidens.
Self-deceit is both the criminal’s armor and sword with which they slay the last vestiges of their conscience.
There was a joke going around a couple of months ago about Hunter Biden’s daughter Navy along the lines that Navy Biden will never get the chance to know the white trash side of her family.
“That’s the way Bidens are different and you are a Biden,” according to Biden père.
Well, he’s different, all right. Brandon is skipping the usual 9/11 commemorations in the Lower 48 this year, preferring to visit a joint base in Alaska instead. He’ll “observe next month’s 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil at an Alaska military base with service members and their families, the White House announced. . . . Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will participate in the annual observance at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan. First lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.”
https://apnews.com/article/biden-911-terrorist-attack-harris-alaska-8e58378865dc612a49d0a2dee80f2304
Well, it’s one way to keep Brandon from mouthing off again about the fire in his kitchen.
I thought that RodW was probably correct in his surmise, and that perhaps Biden’s family was known locally in the past as honest dealers, with him having internalized the belief without the character to support it.
Then I read this article — I have no idea why this very progressive-Democrat magazine published such an unflattering piece, but the Biden family have been elite-adjacent crooks for a long time. I wonder now if Biden Sr used the same catch-phrase to reassure the people he was cheating.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/the-untold-history-of-the-biden-family
Aristocrap.
“Key Player in Biden Documents Removal Was Caught Up in Bill Clinton-Era Chinagate Scandal;
“…Biden aide Kathy Chung in 2017 transferred boxes with top-secret material. She also figured in the Chinagate fundraising?investigation of the 1990s.”—
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/06/08/key_player_in_biden_documents_removal_was_caught_up_in_bill_clinton-era_chinagate_scandal_897961.html
The man’s a criminal…(with all his false names, his fake companies, and his absurd claims).
The whole family’s implicated.
The Democratic Party and the ENTIRE corrupt media complex, which supports that man and his family—totally and unrepentantly—has been pedaling furiously trying to cover up this massive, ON-GOING corruption.
The extraordinary and intense political persecution of Donald Trump and other Americans is, in addition to all the lies of the Democratic Party and the Corrupt Media have been telling for years, for decades—and it’s ALL LIES, lies of commission, lies of omission and lies of partial, strategically-warped and doctored truths—form a major part of the most devious and egregious—the longest ON-GOING—coverup in American history…and probably the history of the world.
All supported by some of the most LIBERAL, some of the nicest, most generous, smartest, most compassionate people—the BEST, the BRIGHTEST and the MOST CARING—on the planet.
(And we STILL wonder how and why certain massive populations could be duped, twisted and warped by obvious, blatant, outrageous propaganda….)
P.S. The article linked to above courtesy of Powerline blog.
Related:
Coverup nation….
AKA, “Weaponizing the entire apparatus of Federal Government in order to utterly destroy and intimidate your political opponents, save your own skin, and achieve—and ENSURE—total power.”
Victor D. Hanson:
“Save The Rule Of Law By Destroying It?”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/save-rule-law-destroying-it
…keeping in mind…:
“WEF Founder Klaus Schwab Says China Is ‘Role Model for Many Countries'”—
https://humanevents.com/2022/11/23/wef-founder-klaus-schwab-says-china-is-role-model-for-many-countries
Mike Plaiss – Aristotle said that humans are a rational animal. I think it might be more accurate to say that we are a rationalizing animal. Rationalizing might be one of the most core human activities.
What amazes me about Biden is how sloppy he is. The Obamas have certainly enriched themselves, but in a much more sophisticated way. The Clintons were characteristically trashy, with their twenty minute speeches for six figures and utterly transparent Clinton Foundation, but at least they maintained a veneer of legality. The Bidens appear to have taken bribes and laundered the money through a web of shell corporations.
I doubt this was part of any plan, but it is kind of like the “boiling frog” effect for Democratic partisans. It is not hard for a Democratic partisan to rationalize what the Obamas did. Then it gets a little eaiser to at least semi-seriously rationalize what the Clintons did. And then once you’ve internalized the idea that accusations of corruption against Democrats are just “Republicans pouncing,” when Biden comes along, you’re primed to loudly proclaim that 2+2=5.
obama was paid off by the notorious bertelsmann, a continuation of inducements from rezko from baathist bagman, auichi et al, and no one cared to investigate him, one person, the late gerald walpin dared to look into americorps grift, and they dismissed him as senile, of course they gave Russia and China, every timber of our foundation, yet they were never called on it,
Not to mention the gifts from the generous (and generously proportioned) Pritzker….
(Please someone—ANYONE—tell me I’m wrong….)
– – – – – – – – – – – –
“…a rationalizing animal…”, ye’ say?
Oh, OK…
technically they are kakistocrats, the only time biden got something right, was by accident or ironic, the drug war legislation, but they found their grift, and made themselves unaccountable,
Joe Biden always fancied himself the Delaware version of JFK. Kind of down-state, cut-rate, low rent rendezvous version. Unless he was projecting the “working class Joe from Scranton” vibe for his gullible union supporters. Or his Neil Kinnock “to the ramparts, comrades” vibe to his left-wing DC constituency. In his mind, Joe is all things to all people, which maybe explains why, when one really looks at him, there’s no “there” there, as was said elsewhere about something else by someone else, but is as apt a description of Biden as I can find.
“I give you my word of honor as a Biden” struck me as a ridiculous phrase, but Joe seemed to be serious about the Biden’s exalted status (though not necessarily honest about giving his word). Maybe it does have something of his wish for a dynasty, thinking of the Kennedys, but also of the du Ponts, and perhaps of the other families that had dominated Delaware politics through the years. Beau, Delaware’s attorney general, was the designated heir, and might have Joe’s Sentate seat now, if he were still alive.
I also thought it might have something to do with the Biden family’s gentry pretentions. The Bidens came over from England before the Finnegans, Joe’s mother’s family, came over from Ireland, and found it easier to assimilate and intermarry with the natives than the Finnegans, or the Italians, Poles, Greeks and others that Joe claimed to grow up among.
Doubtless it also has something to do with Joe’s father’s career as a car dealer and would-be wheeler and dealer, trying to make sales. It doesn’t absolutely have to go any deeper than that, but in Joe’s mind a sense of the family having come down in the world may coexist uneasily with the notion that Joe came up from the bottom. His father did enjoy the high life supplying the military during WWII, and selling cars was quite a come-down.
I note too that Joe’s prep school (and yes, Joe is a preppy of sorts, though an unlikely one) was in the old mansion of John J. Raskob, a du Pont crony who was at one point a major player in Democrat politics. Noble surroundings can nurture noble pretensions.
But Biden’s contempt isn’t aristocratic. It’s the contempt of an insider for outsiders, and the contempt of someone who came out on top for those he vanquished on the way.
To be fair, the Bidens seem like the typical upperclass white family from the East coast where Joe Biden’s career in politics has afforded his kids to think a certain way, live a certain way and pursue the particular careers they had. But let’s look at the kids in contrast to their parents.
Late Beau seemed like the “all-star” of the kids. No doubt his father’s career helped him have a political career in Delaware, the same state his father was senator of.
Ashley gained an MSW at UPenn, which honestly the cost of an MSW at privates such as UPenn are ridiculous, and it is not encouraged to enroll unless someone is footing the bill or if you received a generous scholarship. But I guess she needed that Ivy League credential like Beau (JD – UPenn) so UPenn it is. No doubt she (her parents) could afford it. For a social worker, she’s one relatively wealthy social worker where her career is an outlier – getting the “cushy” jobs. And she married a physician.
Hunter also has his Ivy League credential at Yale (JD) and attended Georgetown for undergrad.
So yes, there is some sort of pursuit of their own “American Dream” here, East coast style. Some attempt at building legacies or patterns. They aren’t old money or have a family legacy like the Kennedys within politics. Joe wasn’t born rich or born into a family with “connections.” He was formally educated at state universities, parents came from modest beginnings, as were his late wife and Jill Biden. But, given his political career, his kids are now the “second generation” of Delaware socialites.
There’s little doubt in my mind that Joe’s grand kids will also attend an Ivy League school or Syracuse University (that’s the extent of state education they’ll draw the line at, unless it’s something like Michigan or UCLA) at some point in their lives. Some might enter the public service field as well and make a living out of it.
If Joe was some lifer tv/film producer, it probably would’ve been the same thing with either Beau, Ashley and Hunter having careers as directors, producers or actors. Granted there’s little doubt in my mind if, say, Ashley wanted to become an actress she could’ve – securing a decent agent on the basis on who her father was and having a pretty face.
Huh, where’d my comment go.
Nevermind. It’s there.
Also want to add that the Bidens probably are some low-level nobility if we use some equivalent to British nobility, liked non-hereditary nobility or gentry.
Not having an actual aristocracy, America has its own self-made aristocrats. The Kennedys, Rockefellers, and Fords rose rather quickly from humble roots to the top of the heap. Biden, who told his first wife’s mother that his ambition was to be president and who was elected to the county council at 28 and to the US Senate at 30, might have assumed that, like Napoleon, he could found his own dynasty and make the world accept it.
From an article about Biden’s first wife:
Judicial observers told The News Journal in 1973 that Biden’s courtroom style was flamboyant and often annoyed judges and angered opposing attorneys.
“I can’t stand to lose,” Biden said.
And this:
The News Journal covered the young family, whom some likened to the Kennedys. Neilia didn’t like comparisons.
“I don’t know the Kennedys, but I don’t think they could be half as great as the Bidens,” she told The News Journal.
The Biden clan kept their circle tight. Joe’s parents, two brothers, sister and brother-in-law all worked on his campaign. Said Neilia a week before her death, “we have very few close friends outside of the family.”
My weak attempt at humor:
We have a Hunter and an Archer. Where is the Fletcher?
Sorry.
Erronious