On Tuesday night’s episode of The ReidOut, MSNBC host Joy Reid juxtaposed the trials of Hunter Biden and former President Donald Trump, specifically pointing out what she felt was “ironic” about them. Throughout the entirety of the segment, she shamelessly empathized with Biden, smeared Republicans, and expressed concern over the future consequences of his felony conviction.
Reid first poked at the difference in support displayed for Biden versus Trump. “Hunter Biden was surrounded at his federal trial by loved ones including his mom, First Lady Jill Biden. During his trial, she was there nearly every day, showing him love and support,” she fawned.
She mocked Trump’s support, which mainly consisted of “federal political surrogates, who even cosplayed in their best Trump look-alike outfits,” and blasted the “rare appearances” of his family members.
For better context, Trump’s trial lasted almost seven weeks, while Biden received a verdict after a little over a week. Reid’s focus on this as a point of attacked proved that presence of Biden family was one of optics. A recent NewsBusters study also confirmed that the broadcast networks were obsessed in pointing out the Biden family members in attendance.
A greater irony, perhaps, was Reid’s persistent and hypocritical defense of Hunter’s felonious gun possession, which to her was mitigated by the fact that he had it for a mere 11 days. Instead, she blasted Republican “silence” on the issue as “deafening” and deflected from her own awkward justification:
Now let’s not forget that the right doesn't believe in any restrictions on gun ownership. Republicans around the country are looking to arm teachers. They have authorized guns to be brought into mental institutions in Texas. And they want people as young as 18 to be allowed to handle AR-15’s, even though those are the weapons of choice for mass shooters.
Her claim that “the right doesn’t believe in any restrictions on gun ownership” was patently false. The National Rifle Association was one of the driving organizations behind federal background checks to begin with. The true hypocrite in this scenario was Reid who was obviously anti-gun rights but was fine with a drug addict breaking the law to obtain one. That’s not to mention the brevity of ownership of a firearm doesn’t negate the criminality of illegal possession or the ability to commit a crime with it.
Towards the close of the segment, Reid ridiculously mourned Biden’s predicament and the uncertainty of his future, even fearing for difficulties he might encounter in securing a job:
And the reality is that Hunter Biden is likely going to face the full gamut of consequences for being a felon, including trouble getting a passport, challenges in getting loans, needing to check that felon box when filling out a job application.
This argument didn’t have a basis in reality because Hunter was able to get jobs with foreign energy corporations without any experience or expertise in the field. He’s admitted in interviews that the only reason he was hired by Ukrainian and Chinese companies was because he was a Biden.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
6/11/2024
07:03:51
JOY REID: So let's take a moment to unpack how ironic this is given all the huffing and puffing from the right. Irony number one involves taking a look at how different the trials of Donald Trump in New York and Hunter Biden in Delaware played out, and who was present for them. Hunter Biden was surrounded at his federal trial by loved ones including his mom, First Lady Jill Biden. During his trial, she was there nearly every day, showing him love and support.
Trump during his state trial was mainly surrounded by his federal political surrogates, who even cosplayed in their best Trump look-alike outfits, outside the courthouse, while launching the vicious attacks that Trump was barred by a gag order from hurling at the judge, his daughter, and the jury. Melania never showed and the two times Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, showed up, they used their rare appearances to join in the attacks. The right praised those attacks, thought they were awesome.
Now, take a look at how they portrayed the First Lady showing support for her son.
[Cuts to video]
AINSLEY EARHARDT: What message is the White House sending having Jill Biden walk into the courtroom? This is the First Lady of the United States.
[Transition]
KERRI URBAHN: Typically if someone sits there during jury selection it's because, yeah, they're sending a message. They want the jurors to look at you to say, like, “Look, here we are. This is a big deal.”
[Transition]
JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO: You’ve got Jill Biden at the trial. But she wasn't just at the trial. She was at the selection of the jury. And I can't help but think that she was there trying to send a message. I'm here, she's got her arms around the family members. [Transition] Then you’ve got kind of the mob mentality, we know who you are. We're in the courtroom and we're watching you.
[Cuts back to live]
JOY REID: Mhmm, yes, so scary having his mom there. Irony number two is that Hunter's case revolves around gun possession. Now let’s not forget that the right doesn't believe in any restrictions on gun ownership. Republicans around the country are looking to arm teachers. They have authorized guns to be brought into mental institutions in Texas. And they want people as young as 18 to be allowed to handle AR-15’s, even though those are the weapons of choice for mass shooters.
Even as we speak, we are awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court that could allow domestic abusers to have access to firearms. But in this case, the silence from the gun worshiping right defending Hunter's right to bear arms, for a gun he had in his possession for all of 11 days, is deafening.
And irony number three, I think is the biggest one. The right says the DOJ is weaponized against Trump. That's kind of hard to see given today's verdict. In fact, it shows that the Justice Department has no problem prosecuting the son of a sitting president. In fact, one could argue Hunter Biden is being treated worse than your average citizen given how rare a charge like this is. This also marks the first time an immediate family member of a president has been found guilty of a crime during his time in office.
We should also note the speed of this case. Unlike Trump, there were no long delays. Hunter Biden could do nothing to stop this trial from moving forward, nor his next one, for failing to pay a million dollars in taxes that he's already repaid.
And the reality is that Hunter Biden is likely going to face the full gamut of consequences for being a felon, including trouble getting a passport, challenges in getting loans, needing to check that felon box when filling out a job application, none of which will likely happen to felon Donald Trump who, unlike Hunter, is wrapped in the protective cloak of a former president, and presidential nominee, and who also happens to lead an upside down American flag cult that includes members in Congress and apparently even on the highest court in the land.
(...)
