Of the many presidential affiliates who’ve been tasked with critiquing Hunter Biden for his role as a paid board member of a Ukrainian gas company in 2014, perhaps the least effective surrogate has been fellow poster man-child for nepotism, Donald Trump Jr. The president’s son, who runs the president’s company, called out Hunter Biden earlier this month for profiting off of his father’s stature: “When you’re the father and your son’s entire career is dependent on that, they own you.”
At least he’s consistent in his lack of self-awareness. On Wednesday night, Trump Jr. appeared on Hannity to condemn the businesses practices of Hunter Biden, which bear a close resemblance to his own. After Hannity suggested that the scrutiny paid to Trump businesses has not been applied to that of Joe Biden’s son, Trump Jr. did some venting: “I wish my name was Hunter Biden. I could go abroad and make millions off my father’s presidency. I’d be a really rich guy.”
Trump Jr. may be overlooking the fact that he’s making plenty of money off the family name without leaving the country, whether it’s from the checks that bear his grandfather’s name for his role as executive vice-president at Trump Inc., or the $50,000 speech fees he’s making at college campuses. Perhaps it’s best, too, that Trump Jr. feels restricted from going abroad and making millions from his father’s presidency, considering his last major attempt to solicit aid from a foreign source — the Trump Tower meeting in 2016 — nearly derailed his father’s administration. Nor does he need to go abroad, as outside money is coming to him: Earlier in October, Politico reported that foreign governments have been booking blocks of rooms at Trump hotels but never staying in them.
