According to Donald Trump and all his echo-chamber sycophants, President Joe Biden exerts an amazing amount of control over the entire country's judicial system. He has "weaponized" the Department of Justice, he has been waging "lawfare" against Trump, and his control reaches all the way down to state and local prosecutors as well. Biden pulls the puppet strings, according to them, and the entire judicial system dances to his tune. He uses this evil influence to "persecute" Trump (and, by extension, all his fellow Republicans). Trump swears retribution if he is re-elected (meaning that the entire scenario is probably just projection of his own desires).

Of course, this fantasy does not bear any actual resemblance to reality. If it did, one might wonder why both a Democratic member of the Senate and Joe Biden's own son are sitting in federal courtrooms today, defending themselves against criminal charges. Those facts don't really fit in with the whole "Biden as puppetmaster" theme, do they?

The trial of Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey began a while ago, but news of it has (so far) been overwhelmed by the first criminal trial of newly-convicted felon Donald Trump. Menendez was caught with wads of cash and gold bars in his house that federal prosecutors say were bribes. Because he is such a gentleman, his defense is to throw his wife under the bus and blame everything on her. You'd think a trial that juicy, complete with evidence of Menendez searching for "how much is one kilo of gold worth," would command some media attention, but so far it has been fairly low-key.

Today, however, a different media circus began in Delaware, where the president's son Hunter Biden is facing federal gun charges. It should be noted that this is only the first of Hunter's trials -- he will also face another (on tax charges) before the election happens.

On the face of the evidence revealed, it seems pretty certain that Hunter Biden is at the very least guilty of buying a handgun while he was in the throes of addiction to crack cocaine. The specific charge is that he checked a box on the background check form which stated that he wasn't using illegal drugs at the time. His lawyers will work hard to sow reasonable doubt on all of this, but it's going to be a challenge for them to do so (again, from just the public evidence).

The testimony is going to be pretty salacious and highly embarrassing. At the time Biden purchased the gun, he was having an affair with his sister-in-law, who had been widowed after the death of Beau Biden. She found the gun and dumped it in a trash can, so she will be an integral part of the case. Evidence of Biden's addiction is plentiful, especially since he himself wrote about it all in a memoir he published.

President Biden issued a very personal statement about how he was standing by his son as a concerned father. He did not address the case itself at all.

I am the President, but I am also a Dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. Hunter's resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us. A lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know what we mean.

As the President, I don't and won't comment on pending federal cases, but as a Dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength. Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I are going to continue to be there for Hunter and our family with our love and support.

Joe Biden is -- quite obviously -- not pulling strings behind the scenes to have the Department of Justice drop all the charges. The judge in the case is a Trump appointee. The judge for his upcoming tax case is also a Trump appointee. The special counsel that Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned to the case is another Trump appointee. If Biden were some mastermind orchestrating things behind the scenes, he doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of it.

Joe Biden will accept the verdict in both of Hunter's cases. If his son is found guilty, President Biden will not attack the judges, the prosecutors, the jury, and the justice system itself. He will not rant and rave about the monstrous unfairness of it all. He will not call on his fellow Democrats to wreak some sort of retribution on any of them for doing their jobs. He will not swear vengeance on anybody. And his press secretary has stated numerous times that Biden will not pardon his son if he is convicted. And if he won't do any of that for his own son, he certainly isn't going to for Bob Menendez, either.

That is exactly what the American people should expect from their president. Unlike Donald Trump, Biden does not pressure his attorney general to either institute prosecutions or investigations, and he does not exert pressure to kill prosecutions or investigations. When he discovered his papers contained documents marked as classified, he immediately invited the F.B.I. to search all his papers. Because it was the right thing to do.

The difference between Biden and Donald Trump is pretty plain to see. I hope voters are paying attention.

[Program Note: This will be the last new column this week. I will try to post re-runs every day while I am on vacation, but the next new column will appear next Monday. My apologies for this interruption.]

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant