President Joe Biden’s only living son, Hunter Biden, sent a heartfelt message in response to his father declaring he will step aside in the 20204 presidential race.
Over the past few weeks, Hunter had been one of the biggest proponents of his father staying the race, and even sat in on the president’s strategy meetings.
“For my entire life, I’ve looked at my dad in awe,” the Biden son began, having been raised by the president after a car accident killed his mother and sister in 1972. “How could he suffer so much heartache and yet give so much of whatever remained of his heart to others?”
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One of Biden’s greatest strengths on the campaign trail was connecting with voters on the so-called rope line, where he would often have extensive interactions with Americans sharing their grief and heartache with him.
Hunter praised his father’s ability to “absorb the pain of countless everyday Americans who he’s given his personal phone number to, because he wanted them to call him when they were hurting. When their last hopes were slipping through their hands.”
As his father self-isolated in Rehoboth Beach in Delaware with a lingering COVID-19 infection on Saturday, Hunter was photographed shopping across the country on the streets of Los Angeles.
The statement was a major turnaround for the president’s son, who had joined Joe’s team on a retreat to Camp David, where a close circle of advisors urged him to stick it out.
The president’s “unconditional love has been his North Star,” Biden wrote in his statement, both in elected office “and as a parent.”
Hunter said he’s “lucky every night I get to tell him I love him, and to thank him” and would ask “all Americans to join me tonight in doing the same.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” he continued. “I love you, Dad.”
