They have clearly been going through a contentious divorce since the Presidential debate. First of all, he, or whomever is calling the shots for House Biden has to be really pissed at the Democrats' willingness to throw him under the bus, and offer up Hunter as a sacrificial lamb to their sanctimonious posture on 'rule of law', after defending Clinton selling pardons out the figurative backdoor of the White House, and meanwhile, he has vastly outperformed either of the far left's preferred candidates against their bete noir, and has even allowed them free reign in his administration.

Lot's of people see his crowning Harris as his successor as a 'fuck you' to the party that decided they didn't need him anymore, and I wouldn't be surprised if the pardon for Hunter, in addition to the blatant familial benefit, is in part intended to embarrass the party in which no member of his family will be running in Joe's lifetime.

The Democrats have made it pretty clear how little use or care they have for the Bidens now that they no longer serve the party's agenda (and one could argue that has been the case since 2019, when they used him as a front man, despite his infirmity and unsuitability for the office), so why on Earth should Joe Biden feel bound to act for the benefit of the Democrats? Why should he hold himself to their promises that will allow them to continue attacking the Republicans, at no benefit to himself? Why see his son behind bars for the good of the party that used him up? Why not run an amicable transition with the incoming President (and it should be noted that, his rhetoric aside, the Trump White House didn't give the Biden transition team any problems, with the First Family all behaving with the White House staff as if they were intending to depart on schedule), and maybe get a few more perks & favors tossed his way during the next administration, rather than wait for hollow honors from the next Democratic president, for whose term Joe might not even be cognizant.

Painting the Democrats with the brush of Biden's conduct in the last half year of his term isn't exactly fair to them, considering he might very well be their enemy at this point.

Of course, just as with the Democrats who suddenly chose to be concerned or disguested by the Clintons looting the White House on the way out the door, there is the fact that they were the ones who put him there and roundly denounced any objections to his fitness for office...