Hunter Biden has some explaining to do — for a greater good

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Name a recurring Fox News segment, and there is a Republican congressional investigation for it: the origin of the coronavirus, the threat to our capital markets, supposed collaboration between social media companies and the Democratic Party. Some representatives have launched an investigation into whether the Department of Justice targeted parents who protested vaccine and mask mandates at school board meetings. No bit of pique is too tangential to escape their notice; Lauren Boebert recently demanded during one of these investigations that former Twitter representatives answer for her perceived shortage of likes: "Did either of you approve the shadow banning of my account @LaurenBoebert? Yes or no?"

Nothing feeds the perpetual outrage machine like a sprawling investigation into a vague but titillating scandal. And no pursuit is more vague and more titillating than the so-far-fruitless obsession with Hunter Biden.

For two years now, conservatives have accused President Joe Biden's wayward son of influence peddling, money laundering, bribery and illegal foreign lobbying — and they have sought to turn his misadventures into a tawdry, sprawling hydra powerful enough to entangle and distract the whole administration. With control over House investigations, they may finally get what they want: a chance to turn Hunter Biden's life inside out.

It may counter every instinct a loving parent (or a political consultant) could ever have, but the president should want a version of that, too. During Hunter Biden's active addiction, Joe Biden made it clear to his son and the world that his paternal love was not contingent on his son's behavior. Now is the time to make it clear that his behavior does have consequences. Joe Biden should clearly call for his son to cooperate — not with the Republican circus on the Hill but with the Justice Department. That would let Hunter Biden stand on his own and allow the administration to focus on issues that matter most to the American people.

Up until this point, the Biden family has — publicly, at least — brushed off Republican threats: "Lots of luck!" Joe Biden told them last fall. Jill Biden simply asserts that "Hunter is innocent."

But even the most optimistic Democrats know Hunter Biden has some explaining to do. The Justice Department has been investigating him since 2018. Last fall, the Washington Post quoted sources close to the inquiry saying the department had enough evidence to charge him with criminal violations regarding tax crimes and lying on a federal form.

Of course, cheating on your taxes and lying on a form are nothing compared with the operatic tale of corruption at the highest levels spun out by Tucker Carlson et al. But the president's Hunter Biden problem goes beyond the strict letter of the law. All Republicans want to do is conjure the clingy atmosphere of deviousness that Hillary Clinton never escaped.

Last month, Hunter Biden introduced a daring tactic in his defense: His legal team requested that the Delaware attorney general, the Justice Department and the IRS investigate the key figures responsible for perpetuating the laptop story and disseminating his personal information without his permission.

As wild as the accusations against him are, the one nugget of irreducible truth is Hunter Biden's privilege. It has served him as a just-about-literal get-out-of-jail-free pass. The same is true for countless other politicians' kids — certainly including Donald Trump's. But pointing out the double standard won't be enough to defang Republican criticism. And neither will just waiting for it all to blow over.

Democrats have tried ignoring Republican fishing expeditions before, hoping that the accusations would evaporate or that voters wouldn't really care. Sometimes that works. (R.I.P., Operation Fast and Furious.) But with enough prolonged effort, they really can do damage. They succeeded in tarnishing the Clinton brand forever.

Whatever Hunter Biden did or didn't do, if his father endorses the Justice Department investigation — and promises to stay out of it entirely — that would elevate law enforcement's slow and steady conventional machinery over the thirsty ravings of far-right Congress members. (As a bonus, the Justice Department will be far less likely than Congress to delve into the most salacious elements of this story.)

And then there's the fact that Joe Biden built a national profile as an eager participant in the war on drugs, which sent hundreds of thousands of people — primarily Black men — to prison. His son wound up a working artist in Malibu, Calif. Joe Biden's honesty about that could dampen the nefarious background noise of "rules for thee but not for me" that followed the Clintons wherever they went. His reputation as an essentially honest politician (and a kind, loving father) is the mortar that has glued his career together; not admitting that his family has benefited from his position in this one case gives every other accusation a toehold.

Hunter Biden has endured considerable scrutiny, but he has advantages that most people don't: No matter what happens, he is unlikely to find himself destitute or without opportunities. Even more of a privilege, perhaps, is that his family has such clear, unconditional love for him. As a person in recovery, I've been moved every time Joe Biden has come to his son's defense. I know that his testimony to Hunter Biden's value as a person has helped destigmatize the disease of addiction on a significant scale.

Being willing to fight for his son against all comers has been one way for Joe Biden to show love. Letting his son stand on his own two feet and loving him all the same is another.

Ana Marie Cox was the founding editor of the political blog Wonkette. She is the author of "Dog Days," a novel. She is working on a memoir. She is also in recovery. This article first appeared in the New York Times.

Opinion editor's note: For more on this subject, see a commentary written by Washington Post contributor Matt Bai — "I should care more about Hunter Biden. Here's why I don't." — and republished Feb. 15 on the Star Tribune's Opinion Exchange page. (Syndicated Washington Post opinion articles are generally made available for republication in print only, not online, but the Bai article can be read in our print replica edition at this link.)