California Governor Gavin Newsom used the latest episode of his podcast to float the single most absurd trial balloon in modern political history — introducing his guest as "Presidential candidate Hunter Biden" — and the pardoned felon sitting across from him didn't exactly rush to shut it down.
Because of course he didn't. Why would he? The Biden family has never met a taxpayer-funded institution they didn't want to treat like a personal ATM, so why not go for the big chair itself?
In the clip, Newsom casually drops the phrase "Presidential candidate Hunter Biden" like he's ordering a latte, and Hunter — seven years sober and apparently seven years delusional — fires back with what he probably thinks is a charming quip: "Here's the deal. I'll run, but only as your VP."
Oh good. A Newsom-Biden ticket. Just what America was screaming for.
Hunter even threw in a little real estate commentary, noting that the Vice President's residence at the Naval Observatory "is a lot cooler" than the White House. Which tracks. The man has already lived in the White House on the taxpayer's dime without ever being elected to anything, so naturally he's got opinions on the floor plan.
Now, the political media class will rush to tell you this was all a joke. Just two guys riffing. Locker room talk, if you will — except when Trump does it, it's an insurrection. But let's look at what Hunter Biden actually said with a straight face during the interview: "They gave me a stage, and I'm going to use it."
That's not a joke. That's a mission statement.
This is a man who was convicted in 2024 of making false statements on a federal firearm purchase form. A man whose own father, former President Joe Biden, had to issue a sweeping pardon covering tax-related matters near the end of his presidency just to keep his son out of a jumpsuit. A man who spent years as the walking, painting, laptop-losing embodiment of everything wrong with Washington nepotism.
And Gavin Newsom — the hair-gelled governor of a state people are fleeing like it's on fire, which, to be fair, it frequently is — thought the best use of his podcast platform was to float this guy as presidential timber.
Newsom told Politico that he launched the podcast because "I'm doing this selfishly because I want to learn." Learn what, exactly? How to rehabilitate a convicted felon's image while pretending you're just having a casual chat? Mission accomplished, Governor.
Let's be honest about what's really happening here. Newsom is running for president. Everyone knows it. He knows it. His hair knows it. And this podcast is his audition tape — a weekly showcase where he gets to play the role of Thoughtful Statesman Who Talks To Everyone. Bringing Hunter Biden on isn't random. It's a signal to the Biden donor network, to the Democrat establishment, to every lobbyist who ever wrote a check with "Biden" in the memo line: I'm your guy, and I'll take care of the family.
Hunter, for his part, has been increasingly active on social media in recent months, clearly trying to reinvent himself as some kind of public figure with something to say. "If that's the standard by which we are going to judge people, particularly people in elected office," he mused during the interview, in what appeared to be a defense of giving second chances to people in public life.
Translation: Stop bringing up my felony conviction, my pardon, and my laptop. I'm a new man now. With a podcast appearance.
As reported by LifeZette, the whole exchange has the unmistakable scent of a political operation disguised as entertainment. President Trump himself has made comments about Hunter Biden's ongoing public rehabilitation tour, and for good reason — the double standard is staggering. If Donald Trump Jr. had been convicted of a federal firearms offense, pardoned by his father, and then showed up on a governor's podcast being introduced as a "presidential candidate," every newsroom in America would spontaneously combust.
But it's Hunter. So it's quirky. It's brave. It's a redemption story.
We're not buying it. And neither should you.
The only presidential run Hunter Biden should be making is the one from his past — and at this rate, Newsom's podcast might be the only place in America where anyone's pretending otherwise.
