Several Republicans, mostly anonymously, tell NBC News that Hunter Biden’s conviction is a good thing for them politically. Not because at the surface level it’s an embarrassment and a distraction for Joe Biden – it really isn’t and even the most pessimistic of left and/or center voices are going to argue otherwise. And not because swing and/or lower-info voters are going to buy the bullshit story that it was an “op” to make the justice system seem more “legitimate” after Trump’s conviction. They won’t. It’s that it will shut fellow convicted felon former President Trump up with his shrill unending screams of “persecution” and force him to campaign on the actual “issues” instead.

Or at least that’s the hope, according to donor Dan Eberhart, who says “Hunter Biden’s conviction definitely weakens the argument,” and that “the justice system is working,” which would then cause him to shift focus onto the economy. Another unnamed Trump minion, who also wants Trump to let the “weaponized justice system” bullshit go and move on to his alleged “strengths” on crimeflation border invasion-pocalypse, says they think the Hunter conviction “won’t matter a ton, but it undercuts the argument of a two-tiered system of justice. The more that argument exists and is pushed, the worse it is for Trump. It’s too close to ‘threats to democracy’ and drives that issue.”

Another person, described as “Republican strategist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid incurring the wrath of Trump’s campaign” (lol) was even less optimistic. “It, at a minimum, slows the momentum and the clear-cut argument that the Trump campaign previously had about Biden’s weaponization of the justice system,” said the strategist, adding that “It’s less of a bumper-sticker than it was before” and now it’s less believable that Biden can be pulling the DOJ’s strings.

But, you know… Believability hasn’t ever really been a problem for Team Orange.