Hunter pardon - a smart bur super corrupt move.
When Trump inevitably pardons himself and the Jan 6 defendants, the Democrats will not have the moral ground to argue that the pardon should not be used for personal desires. I am agnostic as to whether presidents have broad pardon powers but I do demand consistency.
A short history:
Hunter's trial supposedly "showed the Biden DOJ was fair" as it went after Trump for document mishandling while saying "Joe is guilty of the same basic thing but is senile so we'll let him off" (but not too senile to stay Commander in Chief). Then, Hunter was handed a plea deal that folded tax fraud allegations under other unrelated charges, which the judge spotted and threw out. So all eyes were on the case and they had a real trial. At that point, people said "Joe will just pardon him when he gets a chance" and Joe (and all dems and the media) pledged he'd never do that and utterly dismissed it, still insisting Hunter's trial demonstrated that the DOJ is not being weaponized against opponents.
So here we are, and the pardon doesn't just get him out of jail for his conviction but covers anything he's ever done up through December 1st 2024. Now, Trump's DOJ doesn't have crime-related grounds to investiage Hunter which may also incriminate Joe. Congress woulds have to launch a politically costly and distracting special investigation into, for example, the incriminating conversations in the Hunter laptop.
It's a smart, super corrupt move.
It's not uncommon for presidents of either party to pardon friends and relatives. What is somewhat unique about this case is is how broad and sweeping the pardon is. And also there's the fact that Biden and his representatives repeatedly stated on many occasions that he would not pardon Hunter. And Trump is the liar, lol!