In social media-age tradition, President Joe Biden’s son is being trolled on Twitter after news broke that cocaine was discovered on the ground floor of the West Wing.
The area of the White House which houses the Oval Office and offices of some of the president’s top aides and support staff, was shut down briefly after the white powdery substance was found.
The D.C. building, home to the commander-in-chief, has been the butt of jokes since then, with many targeting Hunter Biden, especially right-wingers.
Many posted photos of an intoxicated Hunter, one where they claimed he was doing a line on a prostitute’s buttocks. Right-wing Influencer Marco Polo posted over 8,800 pictures that reportedly included images of Hunter doing drugs and having sex with prostitutes in early June.
“He continues to have somebody with a history of drug addiction in the White House. It is not a small problem that we find cocaine after Hunter Biden has been in The White House,” wrote self-proclaimed internet hooligan in a tweet viewed over 112,000 times.
On Wednesday evening, former President Donald Trump, Biden’s top rival in the 2024 presidential election, chimed in to feed his flock what they asked for.
“Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter & Joe Biden,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
“But watch, the Fake News Media will soon start saying that the amount found was ‘very small,’ & it wasn’t really COCAINE, but rather common ground up Aspirin, & the story will vanish. Has Deranged Jack Smith, the crazy, Trump hating Special Prosecutor, been seen in the area of the COCAINE? He looks like a crackhead to me!” he added.
President Biden’s only living son, Hunter has battled with addiction since he was a teenager, according to his own admission.
On his first day on a U.S. naval base, shortly after taking his oath in 2013, Hunter tested positive for cocaine and was discharged. His ex-wife accused him of “spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations) while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,” in a 2017 divorce filing.
Hunter also spoke about his struggles with addiction in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things.” He has been in and out of rehab centers to stay clean making him an easy target for those who disagree with his father’s politics or are bewitched by partisan agendas.
However, addiction is not a joke, and it is a common condition that many Americans struggle with often driven by trauma, peer pressure, stress, genetics and a host of environmental factors, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Nearly 20 million Americans over 12 struggle with addiction, according to the American Addiction Centers. It has taken lives, broken homes, shuttered businesses and wreaked havoc in neighborhoods in different corners of the nation whether you vote red, blue, or in between.
While it’s unclear where the cocaine came from, and while it may not be off-brand for Hunter Biden, it also isn’t off-brand for America.
Although illegal, cocaine use has been glamorized in films and other on-screen depictions as a drug for the rich and famous that gives them the power to be better, faster and last longer as America aims to be.
While not condoning the drug or the use of illicit substances of any kind, the addiction to sitting behind our electric devices and ripping apart other people should also be addressed.
If you and someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357). The national helpline is free and confidential is a 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service.
