Tammany Hall’s roots go all the way back to Aaron Burr. Once, years after Burr, a Tammany Hall boss boasted, ‘Honest graft made me rich.’

It’s a story as old as our Republic: A politician lands in Congress, learns dishonest graft lands him in jail but honest graft – ‘influence peddling’ – is no crime. It’s legal. Sitting in Congress Lyndon Johnson – by influence peddling – got himself a radio station, a tv station. Honest graft.

Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, got paid millions by oligarchs, corporations, in Beijing, Moscow and Kiev. Did Joe Biden tell an oligarch, Pay Hunter a million dollars and in return I’ll get you what you want. Did he commit dishonest graft? Republicans in Congress say they have evidence he did. But that’s not likely. Joe Biden’s been around Washington a long time, knows how to walk the line.

Was Hunter Biden’s honest graft – influence peddling – corrupt? Sure. Could it land Joe Biden in a mess next election? Sure. How big a mess? That comes down to a question no one’s answered: What did those oligarchs get?