Hunter Biden, the once-shielded first son, stunned listeners this week by openly turning on his father in a wide-ranging podcast interview — bluntly admitting that President Joe Biden’s loose immigration approach and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan were nothing short of disastrous failures.
Former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter were spotted stepping out of a Nantucket bookstore on Nov. 29, 2024, during a low-key shopping trip in Massachusetts — a quiet moment that quickly caught public attention. AFP via Getty Images
“We need vibrant immigration,” the 55-year-old declared on The Shawn Ryan Show during a marathon, five-and-a-half-hour conversation that dropped Monday — a moment that quickly stood out from the wide-ranging interview.
“But we don’t want immigrants that are coming here illegally, draining us of resources, and being prioitized above people that are actual, literal heroes, that are still recovering from 21, 20 years of endless war — or anybody else in our society.”
During Joe Biden’s presidency, an estimated 2.4 million immigrants entered the United States each year, according to the Congressional Budget Office — with a separate Goldman Sachs analysis concluding that roughly 60% crossed the border illegally, a statistic that fueled intense political backlash.
Earlier in the interview, Hunter asserted that his father’s White House had locked in Republican support for a sweeping border deal — legislation hammered out by Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut — before the agreement ultimately unraveled.
“And then Donald Trump stepped in six months before the [2024] election, and told [Republicans] that he was gonna primary every single one of them that voted for that, because we’re addicted to the problem,” said the younger Biden.
While the Biden White House repeatedly argued that congressional legislation was essential to secure the border, Trump leaned heavily on executive action throughout his two terms to clamp down on illegal immigration — a sharp contrast that continues to fuel political debate.
U.S. troops stand on the tarmac as a U.S. Air Force aircraft prepares for takeoff from Kabul’s airport on Aug. 30, 2021 — a tense moment from the final hours of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. AFP via Getty Images
Elsewhere in the interview, Hunter bluntly told host Shawn Ryan that the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was, in his words, an “obvious f—ing failure” — a raw admission that instantly grabbed attention.
“I think that there was a better way to do it, and … I can blame it on his generals, I can blame it on [other] people [for] the way in which we did it, but — and my dad always knew this also, is that the buck stops with him.”
The hurried U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan reached a tragic climax when an ISIS-K suicide bombing struck Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing 13 American service members who were desperately trying to process Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s rapid takeover.
Hunter clarified, “I think leaving Afghanistan was the right thing to do,” but quickly nodded in agreement when Ryan shot back, “I cannot f—ing stand the way the Afghan withdrawal happened.”
“I hear your anger about that,” the former first son responded. “And I don’t have any response to it other than the fact that I know that my dad came from a position that 20 years was enough, and it was not in the interest of anyone in the United States [to remain there].”
