Patti Davis, President Reagan’s daughter, pointed to Hunter Biden’s ongoing trial as a symptom of an all-too-common systemic drug addiction, looking less at its political impacts and more at what it says about the pressure of scrutiny and the danger of illegal drugs. .
“Hunter Biden’s legal case is, at its root, a story about the toxic and careless choices made by a drug addict,” she wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Monday. “It’s about the fact that addicts introduce tragedy into their own lives and the lives of those around them. Addicts don’t think about other people; they think about themselves. And they lie – that’s how they suppress their addiction.”
Biden, the president’s son, is on trial for gun possession, accused of illegally purchasing a gun while addicted to drugs. The jury began deliberations Monday night, and the trial saw a whirlwind of testimony and evidence that recalled his drug addiction in salacious detail.
Davis said she struggled with drug addiction in her youth. She seemed sympathetic to Biden, saying she understood “what it’s like to live under a bright, unforgiving spotlight that never goes out.”
She encouraged the country to show him the same sympathy, seeing him not as a political figure but as a victim of drug addiction devastated by past mistakes.
“There are too many Hunter Bidens in this world, people who have lost their minds, who want someone to believe they can recover and build their lives differently,” she wrote. “You just don’t hear about them on the nightly news.”
Davis described Biden’s situation as a tragedy, where a man with “all the advantages and opportunities” still fell victim to drug addiction.
“How even though he has worked hard to get and stay clean, his past mistakes and sins follow him, collide with him, and demand to be resolved,” she wrote.
President Biden has supported his son throughout the trial, and first lady Jill Biden has personally appeared in court several times, although the president has made it clear that he will not interfere in the case in any way. When asked if he would ever consider forgiving his son last week, he said no.
In the president, Davis saw a man torn between protecting his son and running a country. In Hunter Biden, she saw a man who should be allowed to let go of his past.
“Addicts, like everyone else, need to be held accountable for their lies. But being held accountable under the critical eyes of the world means you are defined by your sins, not by the person you are trying to become,” she wrote. “Moving forward is a grace given to others, not to you.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
