Hunter Biden’s the real point person in Joe’s White House — don’t underestimate the first son

Democrats trying to dislodge Joe Biden will first have to combat the proxy commander-in-chief, Hunter Biden — and that’s more easily said than done.

With the Biden family digging in behind Joe staying put, any staffers or party grandees deputized to strong-arm Joe Biden out of being their candidate in November had better not underestimate the first son.

While the focus has been on four-time Vogue cover girl Jill Biden and her screeching assurances that Joe is hale and hearty and fit for another four years, the first son has flown under the radar.

But Hunter is glued to his father’s side for a reason. He was with him at Camp David to help prepare for the disastrous debate; was there for the vainglorious Annie Leibovitz family photo shoot post-debate; then flew back with the president to the White House, where he has been ensconced ever since.

He reportedly is acting as “gatekeeper” to his father and helping write speeches for him, while White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that he has been sitting in on Joe’s meetings with senior staff.

Hunter has always regarded himself as smarter than his father’s aides, some of whom are telling reporters that they are flabbergasted by his presence at this crucial time.

“What the hell is happening?!” senior White House staff members told NBC News.

Hunter’s role also has caused concern for the powerful House Intelligence Committee, with Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) demanding to know if Hunter is “receiving classified information.”

Turner wrote to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients last week requesting “a full accounting [of any] official meetings and phone calls Hunter Biden is participating in and in what capacity and whether these discussions include classified information.”

‘Fight all the way’

Despite the questionable optics, Hunter is not even trying to hide his position of influence, and instead is acting proprietorial, important and in charge. Cameras caught him looking deliriously happy and networking like a pro in the East Room, where his father was conducting a Medal of Honor ceremony Wednesday. When the president delivered a teleprompter speech, Hunter stiffened up and stared at him intently, as if willing him not to flub it.

Hunter has always exerted some element of control over his father, especially since the death of his older brother, Beau, in 2015. But in the addled state Joe is in now, unable to hide his cognitive deficits, Hunter is in the driver’s seat like never before.

That’s bad news for Democrats — and disastrous for the country.

Those who know Hunter well say that, despite his reputation as a crackhead loser, he is highly intelligent, manipulative, methodical and always out for his own ends, which, now more than ever, depend on his father maintaining power.

“Knowing them on a familial level, they [will] have to be dragged out,” said one former friend.

“I think the Bidens are going to fight all the way into the ground,” said another. “[They] only give a s- -t about themselves and the Bidens.”

Hunter also is fearless and willing to fight to the death to get what he wants. That makes him a formidable adversary for any hapless Democrat believing that all they have to do is sweet-talk Jill and Ashley Biden or appeal to Joe’s sense of party loyalty and desire to preserve his legacy.

Hunter has a lot at stake personally in Joe remaining in office. He has benefited from Joe’s power all his life, but now his future is in peril, with a looming felony tax trial in California as he awaits sentencing over his felony gun conviction in Delaware.

Prosecutors for special counsel David Weiss are showing no mercy after Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ were humiliated by two IRS whistleblowers who alleged to Congress that the five-year investigation into Hunter had been slow-walked and obstructed to protect his father.

‘Proving ground’

While Joe has claimed he won’t pardon his son, nobody believes it. Dad’s pardon power is not something Hunter will relinquish lightly.

Apart from saving his own skin, Hunter will be enjoying the feeling of control he has at the center of the constitutional crisis facing the nation, says another former friend. He may see it as a “proving ground for his leadership skills and believe that his manifest destiny is playing out.”

In other words, Hunter may view the situation as a dry run for his own political ambitions, perish the thought.

Various communications on his abandoned laptop also show he is not fond of the Obamas, and harbors a resentment that they did not respect his father sufficiently when he was vice president.

In his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” Hunter wrote that he didn’t like hanging around the Obama White House because “I didn’t want to be in the position of walking into a barbecue on a Sunday with the president and the White House staff after reading about someone throwing my dad under the bus. I knew I couldn’t control my temper and keep my mouth shut.”

If he perceives an Obama push to get rid of his father now, that will only make him dig in harder.

Perhaps the only way to remove the Biden family grift machine is to bribe them out. Or, to put it more politely, for the Democratic donor class to provide a golden parachute of lucrative book deals, a lavish presidential library and a guaranteed pardon for any family members in legal jeopardy.

“That would do the trick,” said one former Biden confidant.