Hunter Biden Is Going Through It Online

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bulwark – "Hunter Biden Is Going Through It Online"

Date: June 5, 2026
Hosts: JVL, Sam Stein, and Sonny Bunch

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the recent online activity of Hunter Biden, in particular his prolific and controversial return to Twitter (now known as X). The Bulwark hosts discuss whether Hunter’s trolling and highly personal style of engagement is humanizing or just further evidence of his dysfunction. The panel weighs the entertainment value, political implications, and deeper significance of Hunter’s online persona, while exploring broader themes about public redemption, accountability, and the spectacle of political families online.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hunter Biden's Twitter Renaissance

• Hunter's Volume and Approach:
  • Sam Stein notes Hunter has made "something like 350 odd posts in about 15 or 16 days," quickly becoming "kind of addicted to it." [00:32]
  • Hunter is "replying to anyone who is in his mentions, like accounts with 300 followers," showing a striking willingness to engage with even the smallest accounts.
• Humanizing or Performance?
  • Sam admires that Hunter is "totally fine at humanizing himself and admitting how many bad decisions he made," turning social media into a form of therapeutic engagement.
  • Hunter faces his critics head-on—sometimes with self-deprecation, sometimes by challenging them to reconsider their narratives.

2. Examples of Hunter's Interactions

• Memorable Twitter Exchanges:
  • JVL reads aloud a tweet:

    "Hunter, I'd vote for you, but even if you're sober, I would require at least one crack joke campaign ad to pledge my loyalty... Hunter Biden: 'How about let's take another crack with a Biden?' Needs work. Possibilities are endless." [01:38]

  • In response to a troll:

    "What's on your laptop, Hunter? Eyeball emojis. Hunter Biden: 'Look for yourself, Ashley. It's been available to anyone and everyone since it was hacked and stolen years ago. Have you been living under a rock?' Ashley: 'I'd rather live under a rock than smoke.' Hunter: 'Me too. It was awful.' Ashley: 'Well, damn.' Hunter: 'That makes me sad. But I draw that stuff. Hope you stay clean. You deserve a better life than you were living.'" [02:14]

3. Impact on the Public

• Converting Critics:
  • JVL jokes it "sounds like he's converting people left and right, one by one," and the panel observes that some adversarial users become surprisingly sympathetic when Hunter replies directly. [02:50]

4. Counterpoint: Is Hunter Actually Any Good at This?

• Sonny Bunch’s Critique:
  • Sonny concedes Hunter’s advantage is that people don’t expect famous people to engage, so "when you get the response back, you are instantly abashed by that because you're like, oh, that's right. I'm actually yelling at a human person." [02:56]
  • However, Sonny insists that "his jokes aren't that good. He's just literally doing the bare minimum of acknowledging these people." The authentic-seeming contrition and engagement is—according to Sonny—more a feature of recovery culture than a sign of real transformation.
• Hunter’s Past Still Dominates:
  • Sonny: "Every time he is back in the public eye it reminds everybody of how terrible the last six months of that campaign were." [03:36]
  • He lists Hunter’s alleged misdeeds bluntly:

    "He was a terrible person. He's a terrible person from start to finish. He's out there seducing his dead brother's wife and getting her addicted to drugs... throwing handguns into trash cans across from schools... leaving his laptop filled with terrible things in shops that then gets... I don't even know how that winds up with Giuliani..." [04:40]

5. Separating the Art from the Artist?

• JVL’s Thought Experiment:
  • JVL interjects: "If you learned that Drill was bad person, would you not follow him for the art?" [05:32]
  • The panel debates whether it's possible to find Hunter’s Twitter persona entertaining or interesting in isolation from his personal failings and political baggage.
  • Sonny: "The art and the person and the politics are all kind of irrevocably wound up in each other...His existence is an affront to all decent people." [05:51]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sam Stein on Hunter’s Twitter Run:

  "He discovered the platform and then quickly... became kind of addicted to it. And he's replying to anyone who is in his mentions, like, accounts with 300 followers." [00:32]

• Hunter Biden’s Self-Deprecation:

  "How about let's take another crack with a Biden." [Reading Hunter’s reply, 01:38]

• Panel on Public Reactions:

  "It just sounds like he's converting people left and right, one by one." – JVL [02:50]

• Sonny Bunch’s Scathing Assessment:

  "He's just literally doing the bare minimum of acknowledging these people, which is what causes the response." [02:56]
  "He exists. His existence is an affront to all decent people. Like, I'm sorry, he's just—he's a bad person." [05:51]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:32-01:20: Hunter's social media volume and strategy
• 01:38-02:14: Examples of conversational, self-deprecating Hunter tweets
• 02:50-02:56: Panel discusses the public’s abashed reactions to Hunter’s direct replies
• 03:36-04:40: Sonny’s critique and list of Hunter’s personal scandals
• 05:32-05:51: Philosophical debate: can you separate the “art” of Hunter’s tweeting from his character/politics?

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Conclusion

The episode is a lively, incisive debate about Hunter Biden’s latest bid for public attention via social media, balancing the entertainment of his posts against the gravity of his personal and political controversies. The hosts remain skeptical of any attempts at Hunter's public redemption, stressing that his theatrical openness online cannot be divorced from the consequences of his past behavior and ongoing influence in political spheres. The discussion raises important questions about the nature of authenticity, public forgiveness, and how much “good posting” really matters in the world of political Twitter.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, everyone. Hunter Biden is back. He's back, baby. And he's on Twitter and he's got two thumbs and he is posting. I'm JVL here with my bulwark colleagues Sam Stein and Sonny Bunch, and we are looking at the potential Victor Wembayama of Twitter, a generational talent. Hunter Biden. Sam, would you care to make for readers and listeners and all of our audience the case for Hunter Biden as a follow now?

[B]

So now I'm trying to think of a better basketball analogy than Victor when Benyama, because it's like Jordan on the Wizards maybe is a better one. He went away, came back, and is, like, a little bit past his prompt. But still good. He's still good. Okay. No, Hunter's having a run right now on Twitter. We calculated that it was something like 350 odd posts and about, I don't know, like, 15 or 16 days. He discovered the platform and then quickly, and I don't mean this in like a snide way, he became kind of addicted to it. And he's replying to anyone who is in his mentions, like, accounts with 300 followers. What I admire about it, and Sunny's probably going to tell me I'm wrong, but whatever. Is that he's, like, totally fine at humanizing himself and admitting how many bad decisions he made.

[C]

And.

[B]

And then he's, like, challenging everyone who's calling him a turd to, like, get out of their Fox News bubble. And the responses to his responses often are like, okay, yeah, good point. Or, you know, they seem, like, tripped up by the engagement. So I actually do admire that, and I'm giving Hunter his. His roses for that.

[A]

Can we have some examples before Sunny, before you get to offer the counterpoint again? I want people to see what we're doing here is I don't know who these people are on the Twitters. Hunter, I'd vote for you, but even if you're sober, I would require at least one crack joke campaign ad to pledge my loyalty. I await your response. Hunter Biden. How about let's take another crack with a Biden. Needs work. Possibilities are endless.

[B]

Doesn't need work.

[C]

It doesn't work. He's not. Okay.

[B]

It needs work. It needs work.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

All right.

[C]

Need something.

[A]

Okay. I mean, do you want more? We could do more. More from Ashley. Team Trump 47. What's on your laptop, Hunter? Eyeball emojis. Hunter Biden. Look for yourself, Ashley. It's been available to anyone and everyone since it was hacked and stolen years ago. Have you been living under a rock? Ashley. I'd rather live under a rock than smoke. It was like my Lucille Bluth voice. Hunter. Me too. It was awful. Ashley. Well, damn. Hunter, that makes me sad. But I draw that stuff. Hope you stay clean. You deserve a better life than you were living.

[B]

Block.

[A]

I mean, it just sounds like he's converting people left and right, one by

[B]

one, one by one.

[C]

Well, no, this is so, this is actually so. I will agree with Sam that he is, he's a good poster in the sense that most people on social media, if you yell at them, if you yell at a famous person on social media, you are not expecting a response back. And when you get the response back, you are instantly abashed by that because you're like, oh, that's right. I'm actually yelling at a human person. And I feel bad about that. The problem with all of this is that he's actually, he's really not that good of a poster. His jokes aren't that good. He's just, he's just literally doing the bare minimum of acknowledging these people, which is what causes the response. But you know, I saw, I saw somebody mention on Twitter that like the people who are really praising this haven't spent enough time around recovering addicts. They haven't spent enough time in Narcotics Anonymous. Because this is, this is like the whole thing. This is like the self deprecating. Yeah, you know, I, I suck dick for coke. Like, okay, like that's, you know, from, that's a reference to a movie. That's not a, you know, that's not a self admission. The, the, the, the problem with, the problem with Hunter is that every time he is back in the public eye it reminds everybody of how terrible the last six months of that campaign were. And I'm sorry, I like when he goes out there and yells at Jake Tapper, he's like, jake Tapper, lay off. My mom. She's, this is the biggest problem in the country. As my mom has a book, she's out there doing a press tour talking about how she thought her husband had a stroke in the debate. And like, I'm sorry, that's the thing we have to talk about. And so this, this, this idea that we are supposed to just give this guy a pass or that we're supposed to find him amusing. And this is the thing that actually kind of sends me as the kid sends me as the kids say, because I like, he tells people to get out of their Fox News bubble. The thing about Joe, Hunter, Biden, the thing about Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden is. It's really the one thing that all of the conservative media got right. He was a terrible person. He's a terrible person from start to finish. He's out there seducing his dead brother's wife and getting her addicted to drugs. He is out there throwing handguns into trash cans across from schools. He's out there leaving his laptop filled with terrible things in shops that then gets. I. I don't even know how that winds up with Giuliani. Like, there's. There's a series. He's out there. He's out there functionally taking bribes by selling his artwork for outrageous amounts and being like, oh, I'm real close to the president. I'll get you some access. Like, he is a bad person. He's a bad person. And the thing.

[A]

Excuse me.

[C]

And the thing.

[A]

Excuse me.

[B]

Excuse me.

[C]

Yes, please.

[A]

If you learned that drill was bad person, would you not follow him for the art?

[C]

I don't. I. He. He's natively a bad. I don't know. I don't know. He's not the. He's not the son of the president. He's not involved in national politics.

[A]

Work of art and not the artist.

[B]

You're over complicating it.

[C]

No, but, but, but, but the problem is the art and the person and the politics are all kind of irrevocably wound up in each other. This isn't like, oh, a filmmaker made a movie and then donated to a politician. I don't like. It's. He exists. His existence is an affront to all decent people. Like, I'm sorry, he's just. He. He's a bad person. And like the badness. The bad. Okay, let's get.