No, I’m not here to gloat about the new American scandal that is Hunter Biden, nor am I here to talk about what would happen to the US president’s son or to America itself, after his seemingly endless case with charges that keep on racking, is done and over with. 

Call him the White House sweetheart or the younger Biden, but this sweetheart is not just spelling the end of his father’s career as president – let alone the reason he may get impeached – but may paving the very road that will lead to trouble in the lost city of American hegemony in foreign relations and policies. 

An investigation into the 53-year-old attorney, investor, and newly ‘undiscovered’ artist (as he calls himself when he paints) began back in 2018, but did not come into the spotlight until 2020. The investigation followed up on the corrupt transactions between the Biden father-son duo and a Ukrainian gas company, but it was the abandoned laptop story that blew up headlines all over the world. 

Hunter deposited his laptop at a repair shop in the state of Delaware in 2019, and the laptop was allegedly was found to contain thousands upon thousands of emails that pointed to corrupt activity by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden with Burisma, the Ukrainian company. 

In an interview with CBS News in 2021 after the release of his memoir, Beautiful Things, he brought up the laptop matter saying: “There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the — that it was Russian intelligence." 

A rock, a hard place, and Hunter 

Let’s trace back steps to Hunter’s past run-ins to put this picture into more perspective – before we dive into the Russia-Ukraine-in-Hunter’s-laptop debacle. 

Hunter is a Yale Law School graduate, and served in the US Navy Reserve back in 2014 but was discharged for failing a drug test, notably testing positive for cocaine. Just a month after he was delegated as a public affairs officer in a unit in Norfolk, Virginia. His history of drug abuse was not fresh at that point. 

After his mother Neilia and sister Naomi were killed in a car crash in 1972, he spent months in the hospital with a fractured skull alongside his brother Beau who had broken bones, and both were 3 and 4 at the time, respectively. Although they both recovered, Hunter still attributes his alcoholism and drug abuse to the death of his mother and sister – and later adds the death of Beau to the reasons. 

Beau, who was an attorney and a US army veteran, passed away in 2015 after succumbing to his brain tumor. Two years later, news became public that Beau’s widow, Hallie was having an affair with Hunter. A statement by President Biden and his wife was shortly released afterward showcasing support for Hunter and Hallie, stating, “They have mine and Jill’s full and complete support, and we are happy for them.” They split the same year. 

Not only did they just call it quits, but text exchanges and an extensive recorded video of a phone call between Hunter and Hallie leaked by the Daily Mail show that Hallie was apparently dragging Hunter into drug abuse and cooking meth, especially during his time in rehab. A month after the split, he married South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen only a week after meeting her. 

Marriage and affairs and politics don’t go well together, and it doesn’t take Einstein to figure that out – but extramarital affairs and scandals (sexual and political) have always plagued American politics, which has constantly been jumping through hoops to keep its domestic and foreign policy records spick-and-span, and shiny - and Hunter’s here to ruin the party. 

The cloud with no silver lining

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In 2018, a probe was launched into Hunter’s tax filings, specifically into whether he actually paid taxes on the millions of dollars he made as income, including overseas transactions and business dealings – now part of the coined ‘Biden family corruption’ baggage.

Included in the 2018 federal investigation is another case against Hunter for lying on a gun purchase form about his drug use. 

A year later, details of his business dealings with Ukraine came into light, although the business dealings shebang was first noted when President Biden was still a vice-president in 2014 under the Obama administration. His business entailed working as a board member for the energy company Burisma, simultaneously while his father was aiding in ‘anti-corruption’ efforts in Ukraine – obscuring politics and business. 

President Biden, who was in 2019 still a candidate in the presidential elections, denied the claims that he and his son ever discussed his transactions. Business with China was also at the center of it, since Hunter received a 2.8-carat diamond from Ye Jianming, the former head of CEFC China Energy, which Hunter claims was a gift donation to the UN World Food Programme in which he worked. 

In 2020, the laptop scandal came out. On it? Thousands of emails regarding communication with Chinese and Ukrainian businesses, and pictures of women, smoking cocaine, photos of Hallie, sexual encounters, family, bank statements and identity information like Social Security and credit card numbers. In the investigation, Hunter’s former friend and business partner – Devon Archer – is serving as a witness, and it was Archer who actually "raised my name for a possible board seat" at Burisma, according to Hunter’s memoir. 

In turn, Burisma was paying them for being board members. Archer testified as witness that Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky pressed Hunter to use his father’s political power to get rid of then-Ukrainian prosecutor-general Viktor Shokin for looking into the company. At that point, Joe Biden was phoned “at least 20 times” per Archer. 

Archer is already dealing with his own legal battle for attempting to defraud the Native American tribe, Oglala Sioux, of $60 million in bonds. 

The younger Biden is being accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for failing to register himself as a foreign agent doing business abroad. Hunter’s cumulative federal investigation is proving to be the encroaching threat to his father’s upcoming yet far-fetched 2024 presidential campaign, and his country’s sole attempt at surviving the sharks of foreign relations and maintaining the dying American hegemony over the world. 

Destination unknown?

What happens not to America, but to America in the realm of foreign affairs, after the end of Hunter’s case? 

First and foremost is who becomes president next, which in turn impacts who builds what ties, and let’s just say Biden hasn't really been on top of his game lately. 

Second, after former president Donald Trump’s infamous orchestration of the January 6 Capitol riots, the US has been on shaky ground, and the credibility of its relation and reliance among existing and potential allies was shaken. 

Scandals, both professional and personal, serve in the diplomatic realm to resemble hell, and Hunter’s scandal just opened its gates - making both his father politically vulnerable and his country’s credibility fragile. First Ukraine, then the laptop, then the affair with Hallie - the younger Biden has been giving enemies of the state loopholes into American political power. 

Let’s hypothesize that Hunter’s case ended with him being handed a sentence or community service and has thus tarnished his father’s political record. Here’s the rundown of what goes on next. President Joe Biden would not only lose the trust of his colleagues in the Democratic Party, but also his chances of getting a second term in 2024. The issue goes far beyong the trust of his colleagues, because more importantly, it involves the trust of the citizens he intends to govern. 

Joe Biden’s reputation, which is already a gaffe among foreign leaders, is taking hit after hit, and his son's lawsuit may just be the final blow.

His business dealings have already caused his father quite a show in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, whose Chairman, James Comer, said: “Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he knew nothing about his son’s business dealings. Evidence continues to be revealed that Joe Biden was very much involved in his family’s corrupt influence peddling schemes, and he likely benefited financially."

"This includes deals with a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch and a CCP-linked energy company that generated millions for the Bidens and undermined American interests."

He went as far as to accuse the president of putting his family "first and Americans last". Well, is he going to put his foreign allies first and his family last during next year's elections? Because America has its priorities, and Hunter's state of mind is not one of them.