Hunter Biden has undergone a remarkable transformation. In just a few weeks, the former first son has shifted from being viewed as a political liability to an unlikely unifying force within the Democratic Party. His emergence on social media as a mental health advocate, a critic of Republicans, and a voice for the working class has garnered attention.
Biden has moved from being the GOP's bete noire to someone even some Republican voters seem to appreciate. His self-deprecating posts, including a response to Playboy magazine that he would not pose nude and a playful take on a phallic misspelling of the word "election," are mixed with serious messages about addiction recovery. His populist political posts have even led some to call for him to run for president in 2028.
His honest, human responses to trolling have often won over critics. For example, when an X user named Ashley, whose username is @TeamTrump47, responded to Biden's post by saying, "I'd rather live under a rock than smoke it," Biden replied, "Me too. It was awful." Ashley then apologized, writing, "Well damn, Hunter, that makes me sad. You live a better life than you were living. Good luck."
Biden's rise on X, where he has over 780,000 followers, has even caught the attention of President Trump. When asked about Biden's hypothetical 2028 primary chances, Trump said, "You would think that, you know, past has something to do with winning an election. And I would say his past is not the greatest." Biden responded, "Wait…Did he just say checkered past? I'm 28 felonies, 6 bankruptcies, and an Epstein bromance short of his checkered past."
In 2024, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, while Biden was convicted of three felony tax crimes and three felony charges related to an illegal gun purchase. Biden has since embraced the idea of a 2028 run, if only to troll conservatives. "Just saying… No Democrat has won the White House this century without a Biden on the ticket," he wrote, garnering nearly half a million views.
When a user named Tyler told Biden he was "very good" on the app, Biden replied, "It's so easy to bait them Tyler. It's hilarious. Ha!" He also defended Democrats facing intense scrutiny, such as Graham Platner, who won the party's nomination for US Senate in Maine despite personal controversies. Biden told Governor Gavin Newsom in a podcast, according to Politico, that most Americans would fail a "show me your phone" test, and that such standards would leave few in elected office.
Biden often dabbles in politics. In early June, he wrote about things most Americans agree on: high grocery costs, tariffs, stock trading by Congress, the national debt, border security, legal immigration, and endless wars. He contrasted these with things people are told to fight about, such as himself, a laptop, vaccines, transgender athletes, and pronouns.
While his father failed to appeal to Republicans in the 2024 election, Biden seems to have struck a chord. A user named @PeteJurg responded, "3 X Trump voter here, I think I love Hunter Biden." Biden replied, "I think I love Pete!"
Biden has also offered solutions. When asked what he would fix first as president, he answered, "Rent. Not housing policy. Not the abstraction. Rent. The check that goes out the first of every month before the food, before the medicine, before the gas, before the kid's shoes." He proposed capping algorithmic price-fixing by landlord cartels, ending corporate purchase of single-family homes, taxing institutional ownership, and using revenue to build housing.
Perhaps most importantly, Biden's posts about addiction and recovery have had a significant impact. A former crack cocaine addict who has been sober for seven years, he has shared videos about his experience. One user wrote, "I believe @HunterBiden is leading an unknown number of folks here on X to recovery." Another said, "I'm a recovering addict... You inspire me to stay clean."
In a video about supporting people in early recovery, Biden suggested Al-Anon resources and shared a personal story about his father. He said, "The one thing that I know helped save me is that my dad never stopped reaching out, never let go. There was always someone up there with a lantern shining a light down, reaching a hand down into the hell that I had put myself into gave me the strength to make the long climb out. So what I would say is never give up on them, and just keep loving them."
