“Everything would have been 180° different if Beau had lived — there’s no question,” said one close associate of the family who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private family matters. “I don’t think Hunter’s life goes off the rails. If Beau wasn’t president of the United States now, he’d be on his way to it. And Joe Biden would never have been president. He would be happily retired.”
@Nonilex JFC, he's not even pretending the US isn't an oligarchy with Royals that inherit the throne (with some rituals meant to mimic democracy as part of the process of ascension).
@fifilamoura@Nonilex he’s just like any other dad hoping his kid would follow in his footsteps, as well as supportive of his child’s personal ambitions. But whatever, keep hating, it’ll rot you from the inside out.
@Nonilex 😂 Yeah, all totally normal and not an oligarchy to believe your son should be president too. I don't hate Biden, I'm not even American ffs, but oligarchs are all about dynasties and they're literally mourning not having an heir to become president and how this is a great tragedy. It's tragic that a father lost a son he loved, that the father's ambitions died with that son is, well, something else.
@fifilamoura@Nonilex except Beau served in the military, was the Attorney General of Delaware, and the year he died he had just announced his intention to run for governor. So obviously they were Beau’s ambitions, not his father’s. But you’d have to have actually read the thread to know that.
It is this very period in Joe Biden’s life that #HouseRepublicans are now scrutinizing in their #impeachment inquiry. So far, rather than demonstrating that #Biden engaged in financial wrongdoing, a review of documents, congressional testimony & emails authenticated by The Washington Post suggests he was uncharacteristically rudderless & casting about for a new role.
It would not have been illegal or even necessarily improper for him to do business w/his son or w/foreign entities, since he was out of politics — potentially complicating #Republican efforts to build an #impeachment case. Even so, he rarely took the numerous business opportunities dangled before him. All the while, the #Trump presidency was taking its brutal, chaotic path, paving the way for #Biden’s decision to reenter politics & try one last time for the office he had coveted his entire life.
The White House declined to comment for this story, but #Biden in the past has discussed this time period & has recounted how his son Beau had urged him to stay politically active.
“Beau should be the one running for president,” Biden said during a tearful interview w/ MSNBC in 2020. “Not me.”
“Every morning I get up,” he added, “I think to myself, ‘Is he proud of me?’”
#Biden’s tight circle of advisers began plotting his post-political career as far back as 2010. His vice presidency would be over in 2017, & #BeauBiden, at the time Delaware’s AG, was the family’s #political future. It was time for the patriarch to exit political life.
He considered becoming an elder statesman, eying lofty foreign policy consultantships like those of fmr British PM Tony Blair or fmr secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
His team was approached about a “Biden Law Group” that would tackle asbestos litigation, Medicaid fraud & government consulting. Hunter & Beau Biden were both interested & proposed a further conversation w/ their father.
But the elder #Biden seemed to have his sights elsewhere. “He’s not a guy who thinks of that world. Everything is macro, political, global — he wanted to write a book & do speeches,” said one person who consulted w/the family. “He didn’t want to do business.”
In the summer of 2013 came the shock that upended the family: #BeauBiden, after suffering a seizure & being rushed to the hospital, was diagnosed w/ brain cancer. He began treatment but attempted to keep private the severity of the prognosis as he lived his life as normally as possible, even letting it be known that he was weighing a run for Delaware governor.
It took time for Joe #Biden to fully face the implications.
“Joe Biden is a famously eternally hopeful person,” said one person…close to the family…. “I think up until Beau went back to the hospital & then to Walter Reed —…March or April of 2015— I think everybody was holding onto hope he would be one of the small number of glioblastoma cases that has survival for…years.”
Beau died in May 2015, leaving the family utterly w/o direction. Hunter & Ashley, Biden’s surviving children, spiraled into personal crisis, & Hunter’s addiction problems became acute.
…The #Biden brain trust drew up papers for a Biden Foundation, seeking… contributions from longtime friends & supporters. His son & brother avidly pursued foreign business deals, but Biden was more interested in universities & nonprofits….
In May 2016, Bob Bauer, Biden’s private lawyer, approved talking points that said, among other things, “The VP plans to dedicate the rest of his life to this new stage of his #PublicService” ….
…One of the most lucrative temptations was…the paid speech circuit, but #Biden’s circle knew it would risk a hit to his reputation, given the controversy that erupted over speeches HillaryClinton gave to GoldmanSachs & other WallSt groups.
The Post…found at ≥65 instances when #Biden gave a speech or appeared at a book event. But he avoided the backlash that engulfed Clinton, in part bc many of his appearances were at university campuses, book events or health-care conventions.
Biden also signed a deal shortly after leaving office that paid him a reported $8M for 3 books, to be written by him & his wife, Jill. All told, in the 2 yrs after he left the VP, he & his wife reported earning $15.6M, acc/to tax returns he made public.
That was more money than #Biden had ever made in his life, & he began spending it, renting a large home in McLean, VA, & purchasing a $2.7M, 4,800-sq-ft vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, DE. The beach house was one of the few material items he openly desired, acc/to one person close to the family, & he wanted each of his children & grandchildren to have a key.
He also created organizations to try to maintain a role in shaping #PublicPolicy: the #Biden Foundation, the Penn Biden Center for #Diplomacy & Global Engagement, the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, the Biden #Cancer Initiative.
The efforts show clearly how Biden saw himself — seasoned #diplomat, #scholar of #government, global statesman. It’s an image that has been hard to sustain in the bruising world of the presidency.
…For 2 yrs, Biden spent much of his time in the refined world of foundations & academic centers.
…But by this time, Hillary Clinton had lost in a devastating upset, & #Trump’s presidency was unfolding as an affront to everything #Biden stood for.
Before he died, Beau had made his father promise that he would stay engaged in public life. W/no obvious Democrat to pull the party together, Biden, by his own account, concluded that the way to live up to that promise was to run….
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