Call it the pardon to end all pardons. On Sunday evening, Joe Biden—the one-time self-acclaimed defender of American "democracy" who stood defiantly against the purported "fascist" threat, Donald J. Trump—shattered one final "norm" on his way out the presidential door. Biden, who openly mused about packing the Supreme Court, oversaw the most comprehensive public-private collaborative censorship operation in American history, and became the first president in American history to prosecute and attempt to incarcerate his top political opponent, has done it once again. In perhaps the single least surprising development in modern American political history, Uncle Joe offered his prodigal son Hunter the most sweeping presidential pardon since Gerald Ford supplanted and pardoned Richard Nixon a half-century ago. But unlike the Ford/Nixon pardon of yesteryear, the Biden/Biden pardon of today serves zero substantive purpose. There is no actual rationale here—other, of course, than rank "Biden crime family" venality.

In reality, Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter can only be understood as a pardon of, well, Joe himself. After all, as many have already observed, Joe didn't make January 2014 the pardon's start date—for all real or even alleged offenses committed against the United States—by happenstance. No, this date selection was intentional, and it has everything to do with the fact that Hunter Biden began his infamous stint on Ukrainian energy company Burisma's board just a few months later. What a coincidence! What Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter is really trying to preclude is any future damaging Hunter Biden testimony—in either a courtroom or congressional subpoena setting—where the addlebrained reprobate ends up dragging the big man's name through the mud. Because if there is one thing we know about the guy who selfishly decided to pursue a Senate career in the 1970s rather than tend to his own children following the tragic car accident death of his wife and daughter, it's that Joe Biden puts his own interests above anyone else's.

Joe Biden, in issuing the Hunter pardon, myopically thinks he is making a play for the presidential historians' books that they will write decades from now. He has it half right. Biden is indeed making a play for future historians' presidential records, but it isn't the play that he thinks he is making. Because with this truly despicable, self-serving final act of "public service," Biden has sealed his fate as one of the most destructive, "norms"-defying presidents in the long and storied history of the American republic. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Mr. President.

To keep up with all my media hits and other writings, make sure to follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can listen to all episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" at the Newsweek website or on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts—as well as on select radio stations across the country. I also have a second show, "America on Trial with Josh Hammer," with The First; you can subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to also check out my Subtext chat, which you can read all about and sign up for here.

Our highlighted Newsweek op-eds this week include selections from Mark R. Weaver, Ilan Berman, Yael Eckstein, Monica Crowley, and James Orr.

Have a great rest of your week, everyone. We will be back in your inbox next Wednesday!