As Joe Biden was preparing for his first debate against Donald Trump over the summer of 2020, staying largely in his Delaware home as he and the country through the Covid-19 pandemic, he looked down to see his son, Hunter, calling. Hunter told the man he called “ ” that he knew the younger Biden’s struggle with drugs and alcohol were certain to come up when he the then-President Trump. Hunter Biden was direct: he knew what he had stared down, appreciated the challenges of staying sober, and understood that staying silent on his demons was not going to make them any less lethal.
All the while, the junior Biden reminded the elder what is often left unsaid: tens of millions of families across the nation the same struggles as the Bidens, replete with stints in rehab, cruising through blackouts, and stretches of complete withdrawal from loved ones. Addiction is a tormentor that cares little about adjoining credentials, after all. Joe Biden, the patient father, had little to say in those pre-debate days.
So much of it had been already through the years of Hunter Biden’s that left him booted from the Navy and his home, kicked at his lowest and beyond, and made into a pariah or punchline by his father’s enemies. But the former Vice President understood the assignment, nodded along, and made clear that this part of his family brief wasn’t one for focus groups or workshopping. “My son, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem,” Joe Biden said in measure.
