At least according to his critiques: President Joe Biden is increasingly coming under fire over his relationship-or alleged lack thereof-with his youngest granddaughter.
A Heartless Joe Biden?
Some Republicans are questioning Biden’s relationship with the child, despite the widely respected norm in Washington that lawmakers’ families, especially minors, are off-limits to political conflict.
The relative in question is Hunter Biden’s 4-year-old daughter, his only child with Arkansas resident Lunden Roberts. The former’s child support case with Roberts has garnered a flurry of attention, leading some Republican candidates to target the president for not publicly confirming their relationship.
Hunter Biden previously denied that Roberts’ child was fathered by him, but in 2019 a court said that a paternity test had confirmed his fatherhood.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made veiled references to the situation, slamming Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over various policies in Florida, suggesting that Biden would pay more attention to his granddaughter if she lived in the state.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley also made a veiled reference to Biden’s family during a campaign event when discussing her call for competency tests for politicians.
Joe Biden’s Biggest Mistake?
In April the President told children attending the White House’s “Take Your Child to Work Day”: “I have six grandchildren, and I’m crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. Not a joke.”
House Republican Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik, described this seeming snub of his seventh grandchild as “cold, heartless, selfish and cowardly”.
GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also accused the President of having “no empathy” this month, in response to a headline referring to a New York Times columnist’s criticism of the President for refusing to acknowledge his seventh grandchild.
“It is the heart of his political narrative. Empathy, born of family tragedies, has been his stock in trade. Callously scarring Navy’s life, just as it gets started, undercuts that,” wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maureen Dowd.
According to the New York Times: “The girl is aware that her father is Hunter Biden and that her paternal grandfather is the president of the United States… but she has not met them.”
Biden has spoken fondly of his relationship with his grandchildren, including Hunter Biden’s three other daughters and son, as well as the children of his late son, Beau Biden.
Should This Even Be Fair Game?
While criticism of politicians’ family members is hardly new or unique to the GOP, it is generally considered an unwritten rule in politics that families should be kept out of the political arena.
The White House has declined to comment on Biden’s relationship with his youngest granddaughter. Republicans’ targeting of this issue adds to the ongoing political debates and highlights the complexities of navigating family matters in the public sphere.
Still, as USA Today writer Marina Pitofsky wrote on Monday, this latest episode is hardly the first time high-profile Americans “have broken the unspoken rule that families should be left out of the political arena.”
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
From 19FortyFive
The Second American Civil War Has Begun
