It is very unlikely that it will ever be determined who brought the bag of cocaine into the White House, but there has been no shortage of finger-pointing—with most of it coming from critics of President Joe Biden. The small quantity of cocaine was discovered on Sunday in a cubby hole in a West Wing entry area where visitors typically place electronics and other belongings before going on private tours.
The Secret Service has been investigating matters, according to White House officials and that has included checking visitor logs and reviewing security cameras. But the area is known to be highly trafficked.
“Even if there were surveillance cameras, unless you were waving it around, it may not have been caught” by the cameras, an official told Politico on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. “It’s a bit of a thoroughfare. People walk by there all the time.”
Casting The First Stone At The First Family?
Critics of the president took to Twitter as the news broke and many were quick to suggest Hunter Biden, the son of the president—and an addict in recovery—was the most likely suspect. However, as is often the case on social media, the allegations were made without any shred of hard evidence.
“The reaction from the Trump side of the aisle is not surprising,” explained Jason Mollica, professorial lecturer and program director in the School of Communication at American University. “They dove head first into pointing the finger at Hunter Biden, which is part of the playbook, sadly.”
The Biden family was at Camp David in Maryland when the drugs were found at the White House.
Would Trump Have Received A Different Reaction?
There were also those who suggested that had cocaine been found during the Trump administration there would have been a similar reaction—albeit coming from the other side and aimed directly at the Donald Trump or his family.
That may be simply a reflection of our deeply divided nation and the state of social media.
“Whenever there is a controversy facing a party, Democrat or Republican, the first salvo is to judge and place blame without facts,” warned Mollica. “It’s never good for discourse when politicians feed the masses with unsubstantiated claims. Even with a portion of the U.S. population listening and reading the facts, there are too many individuals who take what is said on a network like Twitter and run with it. Unfortunately, we’re now too far along and people are severely divided thanks to those actions.”
A Laughing Matter Indeed
Plenty of jokes have also made the rounds on Twitter this week—with many at the expense of Hunter Biden, while others took aim at everything from the CIA to the ghost of JFK.
“How long before Trump starts calling him Jocaine Biden,” noted one user on Twitter, while another offered, “I doubt there has ever been a time when cocaine has not been in the White House since the turn of the 20th century.”
In fact, most of the jokes about the matter have been limited to social media rather than late night TV.
“Biden’s lucky there’s a writers strike right now,” said Gen Z culture critic, writer and comedian Link Lauren, who noted that this is simply just another event to find humor. “Every president has their scandals: whether with interns, insurrectionists in raccoon hats, or an 8-ball of coke.”
Lauren also believes the story would be different if this had happened under the previous administration, and suggested, “SNL and the late-night shows would have a field day if Trump were in office.”
Read the full article here
