THE PURPOSE OF HUNTER-GHAZI, BESIDES THE OBVIOUS PURPOSES

We know the reasons for the various Hunter Biden stories: They're intended to turn the election around at the last minute, or, failing that, they're intended to keep Joe Biden under a cloud of suspicion (at least among Fox News watchers and their friends and relatives) for as long as he's president. But Anne Appelbaum, writing for The Atlantic, hints at a third use for the stories:

By talking about Hunter Biden, the Trump family, especially the Trump children, also hopes to deflect attention from their own greatest weakness, namely the amoral, kleptocratic nepotism that they embody like no family ever before in American history. Their use of this tactic is not remotely subtle. Last summer, Donald Trump Jr. was in Indonesia to promote two Trump-branded properties; Eric Trump has traveled to Uruguay; Donald Trump himself has stayed at his own properties more than 500 times as president, using his presence as a form of advertising. And yet, days after authorities approved plans for a new Trump golf course in Scotland, Eric Trump took to Twitter to declare that “when my father became president we stepped out of all international business.”

I don't believe anyone in the Trump family will ever go to jail -- Trump is a billionaire (yes, really), and America rarely incarcerates billionaires or their relatives -- but I do believe that he and his family will spend quite a bit of time in court after he leaves office.

I think the Trumps are hoping that the Hunter Biden story will still be in the air when their trials take place so they can say, Corrupt? Us? I'll tell you who's corrupt -- the Biden family is corrupt! We're innocent compared to the Bidens!

Will it work on a jury? Will it work on a New York jury?

Hard to say, but the Trumps undoubtedly believe it's worth a shot.