A New Low

Well, well, well. Now Hunter Biden (son of incumbent US President Biden) is now a convicted felon.

Hunter Biden Faces Possible Prison Time

Meaning that it is the first time a sitting president's child has been found guilty of a crime, and also the first time a Presidential Candidate has been a convicted felon, and both in the same Presidential race.

A new low for the political process in the USA, with two elderly men slugging it out to be the most powerful man in the Western democracies. If you didn't know better, you would think this was a presidential election in some Asian or African state, such as Pakistan or South Africa.

This is what gerontology as a selection tool for political party leaders points to .... the selection of two very old men, whose sins or families sins are coming back to haunt them, at at time when they should be long retired and not actively fighting to lead the free world.

Of course the conservative right is cock-a-hoop over the conviction of Hunter Biden, as they have long accused him of crimes such as corruption in the Ukraine. With the Biden White House refusing to rule out commuting any criminal sentence for his son, they have the ammunition to point to abuse of power at the top. But ironically although fulsome in their praise of the jury in this trial, they are not so keen that Trump was found guilty of fraud by a jury in another trial. They are as hypocritical as you can get .... they will happily tar Biden senior with the sins of Biden junior, but then deny all the obvious crimes of Trump. 

Rick Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government and a Trump devotee said of Trumps latest convictionThe rule of law which holds together the thin veneer of civilization has been shredded, let’s hope not permanently for the sake of what used to be American ideals” ..... really? I like many others watched the news reports, and no one said that the rule of law had been shredded .... most were fascinated by the testimony of Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

While many were perplexed as to why Donald Trump refused to take an oath and testify in his own defence if he was innocent .... but then again his views on pleading the fifth amendment have altered over the years .... some might say as soon as he started getting caught and going to court.

If the US public aren't sickened by the electoral spectacle being played out in front of them in this and also the last Presidential election, then they should be. We used to look to the USA for moral and political leadership when I was younger ..... even Nixon's disgrace looked like just a rotten apple in barrel full of upright men who had been presidents. But with the still strong possibility of the re-election of Mr Trump, what are we supposed to think as he goes to court again next year, or maybe tries to use the presidential powers to suppress all outstanding court cases? 

The US political system really appears to be corrupted and broken at the present time, and probably needs a full overhaul starting with an upper age for potential presidents of 70. The US electorate of even 25 years ago, would be aghast at the standards of the politicians in today's presidential race.