Joe Biden is in deep trouble. But not because of Hunter’s conviction.

Wow. 
Less than two weeks after former President Donald Trump was found guilty in his New York hush money trial, the country on Tuesday got news of another first: President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was convicted of all three federal gun charges. 
He could face years in prison, and still awaits another trial in California later this year on federal tax charges. 
Regardless of how one feels about Trump or the Bidens and the fairness of their respective charges and trials, it is noteworthy that both a former president – and presumed Republican presidential nominee – and a sitting president’s son are now both convicted felons in the eyes of the law. 
This shroud of scandal would have been shocking at any other time in U.S. history. The past few years, however, have ushered in a new era of American politics where criminal convictions affecting both leading candidates for president in an election year don’t feel all that extraordinary.
That’s partly why, as I’ve written previously, I don’t believe Trump’s conviction will influence the election results in any meaningful way (other than perhaps to boost his support).
Similarly, I don’t see Hunter Biden’s verdict doing anything to sway voters’ perceptions of his father.
Will Trump conviction sway voters?Trump is guilty. It won’t matter at all this election.
Just as Trump’s supporters were quick to discount his conviction as political persecution, the same will no doubt happen with Hunter. A sympathetic news media has focused on the first son’s drug and alcohol addiction and pinned much of his legal woes on that. (Not surprisingly, so has Hunter Biden.)
As difficult as addiction may be, it does not give anyone a free pass to commit criminal behavior.
And while it’s true that a former president and a president’s son are not on the same plane, Hunter’s legal problems have always carried the possibility of a connection with his father, given that the younger Biden’s lucrative foreign business dealings revolved around selling access to the Biden name – and possibly Biden himself while he was still vice president. 
Hunter’s laptop:Trump right about Hunter’s ‘laptop from hell,’ though Biden claimed Russian disinformation
Hunter’s alleged international influence-peddling operation has remained off the table in special counsel David Weiss’ investigation, which could pose much more serious risks to the Bidens. 
All this raises the question of whether the president’s son has gotten special treatment by the president’s Justice Department. That certainly seemed the case last summer when a sweetheart plea deal negotiated in part by Weiss fell through because of its incredible leniency. 
When Attorney General Merrick Garland finally appointed a special counsel in Hunter’s case, legal analysts say he circumvented federal regulations by appointing Weiss since he already was working with the DOJ as a U.S. attorney.
Still, as shady as Hunter’s actions and the Biden family business are, the biggest risk to Biden’s reelection odds remains … himself.  
The president’s age and mental ability are at the top of voters’ concerns, and for good reason. 
At 81, Biden’s mumbles, stumbles and odd behavior in public are a constant reminder of his diminishing abilities.
The Wall Street Journal recently posted a damning, in-depth report on the president’s decline. Honestly, it’s sad. He has no business running for another four-year term. 
Biden in decline:Special counsel says Biden is ‘elderly man with a poor memory.’ And he’s the Democrats’ guy?
Pollster Nate Silver this week pointed to Biden’s all-time low approval rating over the weekend of 37.4%, according to FiveThirtyEight, as a warning that it may well be time for Biden to pull the plug on his campaign.
“Dropping out would be a big risk,” Silver wrote on X. “But there’s some threshold below which continuing to run is a bigger risk. Are we there yet? I don’t know. But it’s more than fair to ask.”
Biden was so sure Trump would be easy for him to beat. That’s simply not the case.
As startling as the recent criminal convictions of Donald Trump and Hunter Biden have been, they aren’t going to distract voters from questioning whether Joe Biden can keep doing the country’s most important job.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.