The Previous Administration

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Hunter Biden Really Needs to Shut It

Why is he talking? Why is he still talking?

Let’s establish a few quick facts about Hunter Biden: He has never been elected to anything, ever. His business acumen appears to amount, largely, to having the last name “Biden.” And his artistic acumen appears to amount, largely, to having the last name “Biden.”

So I simply cannot figure out why Hunter thinks that the Democratic party—or the world—is in need of his opinions about politics.

But yet…he just keeps talking. And with every word digs the hole deeper and deeper for the party his father once led.The latest came in the form of an interview with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan. The whole thing is more than three hours long. The ‘highlights’ include him ranting about George Clooney (“not a f—king actor, he’s a brand”); Jake Tapper (“the smallest audience on cable news”); James Carville (“hasn’t won a race in 40 f—cking years”); and the Pod Save America bros (“junior f—king speechwriters”) among others.

There’s more. So much more. Again, the interview goes on for three hours. And it’s all along the same lines: Hunter raging about how unfair and mean everyone has been to him and his dad.

He had similarly tried to re-write history—during an appearance on former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison’s podcast—by insisting that, if only the Democratic party had stayed loyal to his dad, Joe Biden would have won the 2024 election.

The Republican party could not have said it better themselves.

Consider that the GOP finds itself in a second week of struggles over how to move on from the botched announcement by the Department of Justice that its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein is over.

And that Republicans continue to fret as President Donald Trump’s approval ratings sink—slowly but surely.

The best thing that Democrats could do right now is a whole lot of nothing. Republicans got themselves into this mess. Let them get themselves out of it. (They’ve done a piss poor job of it so far.)

But, no!

Hunter Biden has made up his mind that everyone in the political world is an idiot. And not only that, but that he really has to broadcast that opinion.

Here’s some real talk, Hunter: No one is interested in your takes. If your goal is to help either a) your dad or b) The Democratic party, you are doing it all wrong.

Hunter, I am assuming, thinks he is somehow serving as a defender of his father. But does Joe Biden really need a defender? And is insisting everyone but your immediate family is a complete moron the right way to defend him? (It is not.)

As for the broader Democratic party, the worst thing it can do is to keep the Bidens front and center. Hunter is a real problem for a party trying to rebuild its brand. He’s wildly off message. So the question, really, is who is going to tell Hunter to shut it—and will he listen?

Want more ball and strike calling—no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing? Check out Chris Cillizza’s Substack and YouTube channel.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hunter-biden-really-needs-to-shut-it/?

ps:I have to agree!!

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?️ Top aide admits Biden struggled

President Biden had difficulty remembering names and dates, and often required extra meetings to make decisions in the final years of his presidency, his former chief of staff Jeff Zients told congressional investigators yesterday, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

• Why it matters: Zients is one of the highest-ranking Biden officials to acknowledge that the 81-year-old president's age affected his abilities.

In a closed hearing, Zients told the GOP-led House Oversight Committee that over the course of the presidency, Biden began asking for more meetings.

• Instead of having three meetings before making a decision, for example, Biden would want four.
• Zients said Biden had long had trouble with names and dates, but acknowledged to investigators that the president's memory of such facts got worse in the final years of his term.

? The intrigue: Zients also said that former First Lady Jill Biden spoke with him about managing Biden as Zients was preparing to take on the role of chief of staff in early 2023.

• She urged Zients to adjust Biden's schedule so he could get more rest and return to the White House residence area earlier in the evening to have time with family members or by himself.
• Longtime Biden aide and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini also talked with Zients about limiting Biden's schedule and shortening distances and stairs he had to walk, according to Zients.

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?New Biden report reveals debate turmoil

Image: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

After President Biden's disastrous debate performance last year, his team fell into a civil war, with longtime aides insisting he was fine and others — including his chief of staff and Cabinet members — saying he should consider exiting the race, a new report by a GOP-led House panel says. Why it matters: The report, out this morning, is the first time most of Biden's top aides have gone on the record about the former president's declining health, Axios' Alex Thompson writes. ? Zoom in: Former Biden Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told the panel that he, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and VA Secretary Denis McDonough all expressed concern about Biden continuing his reelection campaign after the debate, the report says. But top aide Steve Ricchetti blamed the "chattering class" for overreacting, calling it "a cheap shot" to "point out two things the president did wrong." Top Biden aide Mike Donilon told the panel he thought Biden "had pretty good answers. Stylistically, I was worried about his voice."

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? Slugglish start for Biden library

Former President Biden "has raised only a small fraction of the money needed to construct a presidential library, leaving uncertainty about when a library might be built and its viability as a stand-alone project," the N.Y. Times reports.

• John Morgan, a longtime Democratic donor who was a top Biden bundler, said he won't give "a penny" to the library, citing poor treatment from Biden staff: "He'll be lucky to have a bookmobile." (That's today's N.Y. Times Quote of the Day.)
• An idea that's under serious discussion: merging the presidential library with a planned "Biden Hall" for the University of Delaware's Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration ("The Biden School") in Newark, Del. Biden graduated from the university.

Biden spokeswoman Kelly Scully tells Axios: "This last year has been about doing the research, the due diligence, and finalizing the location [Delaware] and infrastructure for the library. We've hired a development director and are building out a full fundraising team. Substantial commitments have been made, and we expect fundraising to ramp up in the new year."

? What's next: Biden, 83, will greet potential library donors, along with former top officials of his administration, at a holiday reception tomorrow in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood, hosted by Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, The Times reported earlier.

• Go deeper.

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☀️ 1 sun thing: White House still has solar panels

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios The White House is still getting energy from solar panels that President Trump's predecessors put on its roof, Axios' Amy Harder reports. The panels have somehow endured through Trump's criticism of renewable energy. 🛰️ In addition to confirmation from the White House, they're visible on Google satellite images. A White House spokesperson wouldn't comment on whether there are any plans to remove or otherwise update them. ps:I wonder how long that will last? If we had gotten into clean energy long ago we'd be in so much better shape!!!!! Go deeper ...