Hunter Biden — an adult son of the current president, who holds no apparent active role in politics — has been criminally convicted of allegations related to his earlier obtaining of a firearm while apparently concealing his usage of drugs.

Though some on the Trumpian far-right are still trying to run with the idea that a criminal conviction is somehow indicative of unfairness in the justice system tilted to favor Democrats, journalist Steve Benen at MSNBC is firmly on the other side.

“As Biden’s son is successfully prosecuted by the Justice Department, the idea of a “two-tiered” and “weaponized” system lies in tatters,” said the producer and author in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.

“As we’ve discussed, Republicans don’t just want their conspiracy theory to be true; they need it to be true. This simple, ridiculous idea is at the center of the party’s Trump defense, fundraising, stump speeches, cable news segments, and even legislative campaigns on Capitol Hill,” Benen said in an accompanying article, adding: “Indeed, if Biden and his team were trying to weaponize federal law enforcement to benefit Democrats, they’ve proved themselves to be incredibly bad at it.”

Multiple elected Democrats, he noted, are currently facing federal prosecution, a list including Texas Congressman Henry Cueller and New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. On the flip side, though Trump and his defenders have consistently characterized the ex-president as steam-rolled by a political machine throughout the process of his now four criminal cases, he has consistently had access to appeal opportunities that at times have brought forward the possibility of completely shutting down the involved case. At present, Trump’s federal case on allegations of targeting the 2020 election is stalled out and awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court decision on claims from Trump of legal immunity.