I’ve chosen to write this column without assiduously perusing all of the negative responses to President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter. They range from the predictable paroxysms of feigned rage from MAGA world to the presumably sincere objections of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow here in Colorado. Their concerns are perhaps best captured by the governor’s lament, “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.” What utter bunk. I will swim upstream against this prevailing consensus to defend the President’s decision — it was the only ethical decision he could reach.

How tarnished is the reputation of George H. W. Bush, who pardoned his son Neil for his involvement in the savings and loan collapse of the late 1980s costing taxpayers billions? Poor Neil, who lived in Denver at the time, agreed to serve on the Board of Silverado Savings and Loan, among the first of the S&L dominoes to fail. There was general agreement Neil knew next to nothing about banking, was wholly unqualified for his position and contributed little of value for his generous compensation. A public defense was mounted that Neil was too dumb to realize he was being played. Neither did Bill Clinton pay a reputational price for pardoning his half-brother Roger’s drug dealing. Who remembers either pardon, not to mention Donald Trump’s 2020 pardons for staffers, campaign managers and family members?

Both Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter also faced embarrassment from rogue brothers. Donald Nixon was accepting payments from Libya and wound up testifying for Watergate prosecutors in the trials of Attorney General John Mitchell and Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans. Nixon was concerned enough about his brother’s activities to ask the Secret Service to wiretap his brother’s phone during the 1972 re-election campaign. Billy Carter, who would eventually go to rehab for his drinking problems served as spokesman for Billy Beer. It’s not that presidential families carry a gene for corruption — charlatans seek them out. The Ukrainian oil-and-gas company that invited Hunter Biden to join its board wasn’t looking for his petroleum industry expertise. They were seeking political protection against American interference with its business operations during the Obama years.

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They couldn’t have been oblivious to his evident drug habit, but he offered them an insurance policy if needed. Years of Republican investigations were unable to identify a single instance where the prodigal Biden son delivered favors to Burisma — nor could they pin any criminal behavior on the Vice-President. Let’s face it, while serving in the U.S. Senate, Joe Biden returned home to Wilmington each evening on an Amtrak train to spend time with his surviving sons following the auto accident that killed their mother and sister. Once elected vice president it’s safe to assume he was not nearly as present in Hunter’s adult life. As would any parent, Joe Biden must have carried some sense of blame for Hunter’s addiction — even wondering how he may have enabled it.

This is a natural worry for every parent confronting drug addiction in a child — perhaps even more acutely after they are adults. Both the danger of overdose death or a suicide of despair weigh on his or her conscience. Fortunately, following the cancer death of his older and favored brother, Beau, Hunter managed to struggle his way to sobriety. Meanwhile, he did a lot of stupid and criminal things, as do most addicts. He failed to pay his taxes, he lied on a federal firearms application, although it would not be uncommon if he believed he was no longer addicted at the moment he applied. He would then pay his back taxes and IRS penalties but found himself hounded by congressional Republicans intent on portraying him as a kingpin within the “Biden crime family.” Imagine the anguish felt by President Biden, who could see his son persecuted solely because his father was elected president.

Yes, as president he promised not to pardon Hunter for crimes which are rarely prosecuted, much less resulting in a prison sentence, for anyone else who turns their life around. Yet, it was evident the incoming Trump administration would be intent on doing just that. Chief Justice Roberts and his Republican allies on the Supreme Court discovered a shield surrounding official presidential conduct with their bizarre fabrication of an omitted but implicit constitutional impunity. The pursuit of Joe Biden is now far more difficult, but his son remains an easy target. As any father would and should do, the president placed Hunter beyond the reach of congressional zealots. Biden’s challenge to the Jim Jordans and Jim Comers is, “Come for me if you must but leave my boy alone. Allow him to get on with the remainder of his life!”

I admire this decision. Yes, Joe may have made it easier for Trump to justify pardons for the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrectionists. So be it. He was planning to do that in any case. At least one injustice has been averted. A slim majority of 2024 voters decided electing a convicted rapist, a convicted fraudster who is forbidden from operating a charity, because he stole money from his own, and a tax cheat to boot is the proper choice to Make America Great Again. The FBI, which has been the most feared and competent police agency on the planet, may soon be placed in the cruel hands of a fanatic determined to jail any critic of the president. In fact, I may have just earned a place on his list of enemies. Come and arrest me, Kash. I trust my chances before a Colorado jury.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former Colorado legislator.