Now is not a good time to be Hunter Biden. His first trial on gun charges starts Monday. His attorney did everything he could to delay it and the judge just wasn't buying it. So now he's going to face the music in a trial where the most incriminating facts don't seem arguable. 

Did he purchase a gun? Yes.

Was he a drug addict at the time? Also yes. And unfortunately for him there are both witnesses to his drug problem and his own book in which he admits to the drug problem.

Combine those two facts and he should lose this case pretty quickly.

But his problems are worse than that. This morning Axios reported on a civil case which he's been involved in with ex-wife Kathleen Buhle. His freedom isn't at stake in this one but it sounds like he's got a tremendous amount of unpaid debts.

On Jan. 29, 2021 — just after President Biden's inauguration and following a year-and-a-half of legal jousting — a D.C. court found Hunter was in breach of his divorce agreement and owed Buhle more than $1.7 million in spousal support, legal fees and interest since their 2017 divorce...

In November 2021, the court appointed a special master — former D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Morin — to help adjudicate the dispute...

In April 2023 Buhle's representative filed a blistering motion stating that the president's son had continued to not pay alimony and paid her only $35,815.50 in 2022 when Morin was controlling the process.

The bottom line is that as of last April, Hunter owed $2.9 million in this case, money he clearly doesn't have. Because while this case with his ex-wife has dragged on for several years, he's also now facing the two criminal cases. His lawyer in that case is also apparently owed a lot of money. In fact, Hunter's friend and benefactor in Hollywood has spent more than $7 million defending Hunter so far but he recently said he was out of cash.

...that lawyer, Kevin Morris, who has played many parts in Mr. Biden’s life — legal adviser, confidant, strategist, art patron and friend — has told associates he is running out of liquid assets to make any more loans, deepening a chronic cash crunch that has already left Mr. Biden’s lawyers working for little or no compensation.

With Mr. Biden’s trial on gun charges set to begin on Monday in Delaware, Mr. Morris has said he might need to sell some real estate holdings or other assets if others do not step up to fill the gap, according to people familiar with the situation. He hopes to pressure the president’s advisers into helping find new donors, people close to the situation said...

“It is clear that there are people in the White House who would prefer Hunter would just go away, and any day he’s not in the news is a good day for the White House,” said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who has worked with Mr. Morris to raise outside funding, with little success or cooperation from the president’s team.

“As a friend of Hunter’s, it’s hard to understand because you’d think the father’s team would do anything to protect the son,” said Mr. Jolly, who left his party in opposition to former President Donald J. Trump. “But I also understand that somebody has to make the call about how to protect the president.”

Hunter's previous lawyer worked for almost nothing despite racking up bills of several million dollars. His current lawyer is also working for a fraction of the actual cost of his services. But now that Kevin Morris is running out of cash, the situation is getting desperate. Biden's total legal defense is expected to cost in the realm of $10 million when all is said and done.

It sounds like the White House wishes this problem would just go away. Is this about Joe Biden's claims that his son did nothing wrong? Are they still trying to live in that fantasy world? I'm not sure how any of this is protecting Joe Biden at this point.

It seems to me Hunter would be better off if Joe just went to bat for his son, put up some money to defend him and even showing up for the trial. Hell, Joe should take out a mortgage on his house. No one would blame him and he'd probably gain a lot of sympathy with his supporters who love the image of Joe as the doting dad. I guess I don't see the downside to just admitting this is a problem and embracing it. It's really too late to do anything else anyway. The trial starts Monday and at that point not talking about it will seem odd.