President Joe Biden just made history — the bad kind — with Sunday night’s sweeping Thanksgiving-weekend pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden. (Talk about trying to bury a story.) The outgoing president made this all way harder than it needed to be on himself, his son, and the justice system.

Joe Biden’s strong tie to his family is at the core of his being, his role as a father the most important to him—greater than any political fallout.