As House Democrats summon current and former Trump administration figures to testify for their impeachment inquiry, Republicans are casting about desperately for something other than the president's alleged crimes to talk about. Among their more popular talking points of late is that Hunter Biden, by accepting a handsomely-paid position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company during his father's vice presidency, was the shameless beneficiary of preferential treatment. "WHERE'S HUNTER?" the president tweeted earlier this week; his 2020 re-election campaign is now selling t-shirts with that slogan splashed across the front.

In an interview that aired on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Hunter Biden answered the president's question. "I'm here," he said. He acknowledged that he made a "mistake" by failing to anticipate the political fallout, but denied any wrongdoing. "What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a President of the United States that would be listening to this—this ridiculous conspiracy idea."

Many of the conservative types criticizing Hunter Biden for profiting off his family connections, though, owe their careers—at least in part—to this same strain of unearned success. "Hunter Biden got $50K a month from a Ukrainian energy company, despite having ZERO experience in energy," tweeted Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel on Tuesday. "If that's not the swamp, I don't know what is!" McDaniel, of course, worked for the 2012 presidential campaign of her uncle Mitt Romney, now a Utah senator, and is the granddaughter of former Michigan governor George Romney. According to Bloomberg, McDaniel's predecessor, Reince Priebus, took home almost $500,000 in salary, bonuses, and benefits from the RNC during his final year in that position.

Following Hunter Biden's interview, The View co-host Meghan McCain critiqued as insufficient his admission that he exercised "poor judgment" in taking the Ukraine position. "Part of the problem is he also said, 'I probably wouldn't have gotten this job if I weren't a Biden,'" she explained. McCain rose to national prominence during the 2008 presidential campaign of her father, Arizona senator John McCain, for whom she wrote regular blog posts in an effort to appeal to younger voters."Turns out that a McCain did emerge from the 2008 election victorious," Politico wrote in April 2009, noting her budding journalism career, sizable social media following, frequent talk show appearances, and six-figure book deal.

In an interview on MSNBC, Kentucky senator Rand Paul called for the ongoing law enforcement investigation into Rudy Giuliani's Ukraine dealings by calling for a parallel investigation of Hunter's, too—"if you want to be fair," he explained. Rand Paul is the son of former Texas congressman and perennial presidential candidate Ron Paul; before jumping into politics, the younger Paul was a practicing ophthalmologist. When host Stephanie Ruhle asked Paul if the same principle meant that officials should investigate the many ways in which Trump's children have profited off the presidency, Paul replied, "If we want to go down the road of politics of self-destruction, of everybody criminalizing all politicians on both sides of the aisle and go after their families, we can do that."

Ruhle's reference was to the president's most zealous advocates of all, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, who in recent days have criticized Hunter's conduct as a "clear conflict of interest" and "insane," respectively. Today, the two men are the heads of an international real estate development company and superstars in the right-wing universe thanks entirely to the fact that their father is Donald Trump. For the same reason, their sister Ivanka and brother-in-law Jared Kushner, a fashion designer and an heir to a different real estate empire, are now senior advisors to the President of the United States. When it comes to placing unqualified people in positions of enormous influence, the first family is second to none.