Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was found guilty of illegally buying a gun while using narcotics. While he stood trial, you may have noticed the quietude outside the federal courthouse and on the information highway.

No demagogic puppets from Capitol Hill showed up to attack the rule of law or slime the judge and jury.

No whining from the defendant about how very unfair and disgraceful everything was, a sham the likes of nothing anyone has ever seen before. No fuming about a courtroom “icebox.”

No Democratic denunciations of the FBI. No Democratic demands that a “weaponized” Justice Department should be defunded. No Democratic warnings that if “they” could come for Hunter, “they” could come for any of us.

No complaints from the president that the entire justice system was being “rigged” against his son. And no nonsensical predictions that businesses will flee Delaware in retaliation.

(Indeed, the president has been busy with presidential tasks – like managing a robust economy that the World Bank says is powering a global recovery; planning for the G7 summit in Italy; touting gun reform at a safety summit in Connecticut; denouncing fascism at D-Day events in France.)

A Delaware jury said Hunter Biden broke the law? Fine. In a case brought by his father’s Department of Justice? So be it.

Hunter himself has refused to play the victim card, simply stating, “I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week…than I am disappointed by the outcome.”

Hunter’s father – the president who wants to set a good example for the nation – released a statement: “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process.”

As for the MAGAts, they’ve been scrambling for a unified response. Some of the usual suspects, like Steven Miller, are hewing to their paranoia by insisting (get this) that Hunter’s conviction is meant to distract us from the real crimes of the Biden family. But some Republicans with functioning brain cells rightly believe the verdict against the president’s son undercuts the MAGA mantra about how the justice system is (purportedly) weaponized against Trump.

Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor, tells NBC News (with his name on the record! amazing!) that Hunter’s conviction “definitely weakens the (MAGA) argument. To me, the justice system is working.” A Republican strategist who chooses to remain anonymous – to avoid incurring Trump’s wrath, according to NBC News – says that Hunter’s conviction “at a minimum slows the momentum” for Trump’s “weaponization” mantra. “It’s less of a bumper sticker than it was before.”

What’s particularly striking – hilarious, really – is how so many of the same MAGAts who denounced the court system two weeks ago, when Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, are lauding the court system now that Hunter has been convicted. Do these people hear themselves?

Case in point, Fox News’ Jesse Watters. Two weeks ago: “The republic has been wounded.” This week: “It gave me a little confidence in the American legal system.”

Case in point, Laura Ingraham. Two weeks ago: “It’s a banana republic.” This week: Thanks to the courts, the Bidens’ “luck ran out.”

Case in point, Sen. Charles Grassley. This week he opined on Hunter’s conviction: “You gotta rely on what the judges and juries decide…and you got to conclude justice was done. But when asked if that standard applies to the Trump conviction, he said nope. Because “it’s an entirely different situation.”

Guess what, MAGAts. You can’t laud our justice system only when its verdicts please you. Tearing the system asunder whenever it rules against you – damaging the credibility of a bedrock American institution – is, quite frankly, fascistic.

Contrast that with how Democrats treated Hunter’s trial. How refreshing it has been to bask in the sounds of silence.

Copyright 2024 Dick Polman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at [email protected]