Above All Else, Jared Schmeck Was a Bad Dad

His kid is gonna realize what his dad did some day.

I’ve never met a President. Most people haven’t. How many people do you think have met the President of the United States? I don’t mean people who knew the President when he was in high school, or went to watch one of his speeches, or saw his motorcade drive by one time. I mean actually seeing the man while he’s president, shaking his hand or speaking directly with him, whether at a fundraiser or being hosted at the White House, exchanging a dialogue that he’ll never remember and you’ll never forget. 10,000 people? 100,000 people? I’d guess roughly 50,000 people: 50,000 people who have looked the leader of the free world right in the eye, or spoken to him. (I’m open to adjustments to that estimate.) That is, essentially, 1 out of every 142,000 people on earth. You’re four times more likely to have leprosy.

This is to say: It’s an honor that a vanishingly small number of Americans ever have experienced. I think about my grandfather, who fought in World War II, or my father, who served during Vietnam. I think about men and women who lost their lives defending their country, standing, and falling, for the ideals this country, at its best, stands for … and the men (and only men so far) in the Oval Office sworn to defend them. Those people never met a President. They never had that chance.

On Friday night, Jared Schmeck, a former cop who now works for his father’s electric company, had the opportunity to speak to President Joe Biden. Biden, as is customary of Presidents (including Donald Trump, who had his own unique spin on the custom), on Christmas Eve spoke to children who had called into the NORAD Santa tracker hotline. One of those children was Schmeck’s nine-year-old Hunter, who said he wanted a Nintendo Switch. Biden was taken with the name “Hunter,” of course: It’s the name of his son and his grandson. But one suspects the word “Hunter,” when uttered by Joe Biden, meant something else to Schmeck.

This is how the exchange went:

Schmeck went on to share that his daughter Piper wanted a Barbie doll airplane and his 2-year-old daughter Penelope would be happy with any presents from Santa. Schmeck asked for a “quiet night.” The president retorted, “Lucks of luck…