Jimmy Kimmel took a break on Thursday from roasting his most despised presidential offspring to welcome the current president’s son to his late-night show for a friendly, sympathetic and sometimes hilarious conversation.
Hunter Biden, who weathered the onslaught of attacks, weaved his way before, during and after the 2020 election and somehow managed to come out stronger, came along Jimmy Kimmel Live this week in person to promote his revealing new memoirs, Beautiful things
“You know how Donald Trump always asked where Hunter is?” Kimmel asked in his opening monologue. “Well, he’s here in our building. He’s been here the whole time, it turns out. “
After introducing Biden as “probably the most famous board member of a Ukrainian energy company of all time,” the host said to him, “After reading this book, I am impressed that you are alive.”
“Yes, it was a journey, but thank goodness I got through it,” replied Biden. When Kimmel joked that the book may have inadvertently taught him how to find and smoke crack, Biden added, “I hope that wasn’t the message you got from the book. It’s not a how-to, it’s a manual please don’t. “
To clarify that unlike the president’s son, he has never smoked crack, Kimmel said, “I feel like I understand now. And I found it especially interesting when you wrote about the fact that what happens when you use it for the first time is something that haunts you the rest of the time you use it. It’s never what it was that first time. “
Biden explained that he wanted to write his book to “make people who suffer from addiction human.” But the story also serves to humanize himself, given how Trump and other Republicans have turned him into some kind of evil caricature in recent years. One such Republicans was Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), whom Kimmel noted was closer to Joe Biden when they served in the Senate together.
‘When you say that Lindsey Graham attacked you on television, he was considered a family friend, he was a friend of your father’s,’ said Kimmel, ‘and how strange it is to see that happen, to see someone to do. “
“It’s especially sad,” Biden said with a sigh, referring to his father’s co-senators as “uncles,” be they Republican or Democrat. “Politics has become so toxic,” he added. And I think the thing I hope my dad can bring back is his sincere desire to get some of that toxicity out again. So I had a deep respect for Senator Graham. And it’s just sad to see how he has decided not only to attack me, but to approach politics as well. “
Later, Kimmel asked Biden if it “ drives him crazy ” to see someone like Donald Trump Jr. hears say that the only reason he has been successful is because he is “a Biden” and “because of his last name.”
“It’s very comical,” agreed Biden. “That is to say lightly.”
But when he tried to brush it off by saying he’s trying not to “think about it too long,” Kimmel spurred him on, saying, “Yeah, I think about it all the time.”
Under pressure to see if he is Donald Trump Jr. ever met, Biden replied bizarrely, “I don’t know,” added, “but I’ve been to some pretty rough places.”