Hunter Biden is once again reinventing himself with the help of an ever-enabling media and the Democratic establishment. The media is full of reports that people are rediscovering Hunter and finding him strikingly honest and refreshing. In his pitch, he assures viewers that now “it’s just me” and not some team of advisers. The problem is that, for some of us who have been critics of the Bidens for decades, there is nothing new about the new Hunter other than a podcast audience.

For the record, I have been a critic of the Biden family for decades as one of the most corrupt political families in U.S. history. Joe Biden and his family have been influence peddlers and self-dealers since his time in the Senate — enriching themselves with positions and shady dealings.

Hunter Biden was the ultimate personification of that corruption — both financial and moral. He spent his life attacking those who tried to investigate his dealings, including filing ruinous lawsuits against individuals who would not yield.

At the same time, he spent lavishly with money that he acquired by leveraging the access and influence of his father. Some of this conduct continued during periods of sobriety as well as addiction.  That includes his disgraceful record with regard to his daughter Navy Joan, whom he fought not to recognize or support.

Hunter has repeatedly sought to reinvent himself with the help of an army of advisers. His current pitch is that everything that he did for literally decades was because he was an addict and that he is now proud and unafraid.

The problem is that the facts do not fit the pitch. Hunter was cashing in on the family business from the moment that he emerged from law school. He was entitled and eager to use his father to enrich himself.

For a party that often seems on a recurring loop of mantras condemning white privilege and entitlements, Hunter Biden would seem the last person that the left would embrace. However, the use of his identity as a recovering addict is drawing crowds and accolades. He presents himself as a virtual sage as a result of the struggle.

I have previously expressed sympathy for Hunter’s recovery and credited him for writing about it. However, his honesty about addiction is notably missing in his account of his influence peddling and corruption. He prefers to focus on how he spent the money and not how he got it.

We’re missing accounts of his strong-arming of foreign figures, such as BHR Partners CEO Jonathan Li. In the summer of 2019, Li wired $250,000 to Hunter Biden from Beijing, with Joe Biden’s Delaware home listed as the beneficiary address.

There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.” There are messages like the one to a Chinese businessman , openly threatening Joe Biden’s displeasure if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:

“I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

Hunter puts all of these dealings and his attacks on critics into a deep memory hole while thrilling liberal audiences as the liberated voice of reason.

Hunter continues to twist history to fit his needs. In an interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Biden explained how his infamous pardon was simply proof of “how much you know my dad loves me.” He said that his father “chose me over his legacy.”

That last point may be the only unassailable point from his interviews. However, Hunter notably stuck to the same carefully crafted narrative put out by his family in interviews on the pardon — insisting that it was made necessary by Trump’s election to protect him from retaliation.

Hunter told Newsom:

“My dad said that he wouldn’t give me a pardon and he was absolutely 100% genuine about it…he said it at a moment in time where he thought that he was going to be the next president of the United States and there would be a Justice Department that would treat me fairly…It would have been like having a gun to my family’s head for the next four years at least, so that’s why he pardoned me. It’s a really incredibly rational decision and a really difficult decision.”

It is the same spin given by Jill Biden in her book and clearly was crafted by the family. She insisted (like Hunter) that Joe meant it when he repeatedly insisted that he would not pardon his son under any circumstances. He ran for reelection on the promise. “Then the Justice Department changed. And I think that the process was not fair to Hunter. When Trump was elected, we knew that he would target Hunter.”

Just one problem: It was her husband’s Justice Department, and two different panels of jurors, who convicted Hunter. Indeed, even juries in the Bidens’ home state of Delaware and the heavily Democratic state of California declared him guilty.

The only pending matter was his sentencing before the same judges that President Biden assured us would be allowed to resolve the cases. Indeed, even after those convictions, the Biden administration declared that the president would not break his promise and pardon his son.

What’s particularly galling is that Hunter Biden was allowed to escape charges for other federal crimes, including his alleged influence peddling that produced millions from foreign interests.

President Biden notably pardoned his son for any crimes that he may have committed from “Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.”

If the family was so afraid of retaliation by Trump, why didn’t Joe Biden pardon his son for all crimes except those for which he was convicted during his administration?

That would still have been an abuse of power, but it would at least have maintained the president’s promise to allow the prior cases to proceed without interference.

Yet, Hunter picked up the spin where Jill left off: “If it was in a Mitt Romney administration, if it was in a John McCain administration, if it was in anybody that was an actual Republican and not a tyrant or a fascist, my dad would not have pardoned me.”

Once again, all that was pending from the very same judges was the sentencing for his convictions. Hunter was already protected from even more serious charges over his being an alleged unregistered foreign agent.

With history rewritten, Hunter proceeded to hold forth on his view of American politics, assuring the public that they could support Graham Platner. Speaking with authority, Hunter declared that “I have not heard anything in any way that would say to me that he is an abusive, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, or racist person.” He declared, “I’m 99.9% certain Graham Platner is no Nazi.”

So apparently the matter is settled by the new sage of the left.

Count me out on the Hunter Biden love fest tour. Some of us have followed too many of the prior incarnations of Hunter Biden to think that this latest variation is anything more than the latest creation of the Biden image lab.

His new videos are polished and poignant as he proclaims, “it’s just me.” But that is precisely the problem.