Bidens

• The charges relate to Hunter Biden’s alleged lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018.
• And a conviction could mean prison time of 10 years or more.
• Those dynamics have only intensified over time, especially in recent decades as presidents increasingly put their private lives on public display.

America, mirrored

• The fact that gender norms often precluded presidential daughters from an explicitly political role paradoxically could make them more popular public figures.
• The assumption that young children should be free from the political rough-and-tumble has recently made them highly effective symbols for presidential image-making.
• Presidents have often sought a role for their adult sons in supporting their administrations.
• In 1837, Martin Van Buren appointed his son, Abraham, to serve as his private secretary, at the time a high-level confidential advisor.
• Over a century later, Dwight Eisenhower selected his son, John, to serve as assistant staff secretary.
• Yet whatever benefit he believed he drew from these adult children, Trump found they were immediate lightning rods for public criticism.

How to look normal

• While the adult children of most Republican candidates have been invisible on the current campaign trail, Florida Gov.
• Ron DeSantis – often described as awkward and lacking charm – has made a point of appearing with his young children.
• At the Democratic Convention in 2008, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden nominated his father as the party’s candidate for vice president.
• If his administration cannot cast Biden as a young dad like Ron DeSantis, they can surround him with his grandchildren.