Whether or not the indictments were an appropriate exercise of prosecutorial judgement, both Trump and Hunter Biden were convicted of their crimes.
Due to his pardon, Hunter Biden will face no consequences for that. And as Trump prepares to head back to the White House, it appears increasingly likely that the nature of his high office will protect him from a sentence for his conviction. It has already led to the federal cases against him being dropped.
Public perception of a double-standard for the wealthy and powerful may not be so off base.
American faith in the criminal justice department is being undermined, said John Geer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University and head of its Project on Unity and American Democracy. He adds, however, that claims of selective prosecution amount to a “pebble thrown in a very large lake”, compared to the broader issues at play.
“Justice has never been blind,” he said. “There have been periods of time when it has been more even-handed than others, however.”
Recent developments, he says, reflect a growing public distrust in political institutions across the board – including Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court.
Trump has capitalised on this distrust in institutions, railing against the government “swamp” and promising the kind of sweeping reforms his supporters believe more established politicians are unable or unwilling to deliver.
When taken in context, Trump’s ongoing complaints of political prosecutions, and Biden’s recent adoption of similar claims, are a reflection of a larger crisis of American faith in government – one that both politicians have taken advantage of when circumstances put them in uncomfortable legal terrain.
Biden’s use of Trumpian rhetoric to explain his exercise of presidential power to protect his son might only help the incoming president find more support to swing the wrecking ball at the institutions that Biden has long served and pledged to protect.