In a tactic to divert attention from Donald Trump's blatant impeachable offense of attempting to enlist a foreign government to get dirt on his political opponent Joe Biden, his attorneys have brought irrelevant and false accusations against Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden's credentials obliterate the accusations.

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Donald Trump, his defenders in Congress, and his attorneys are stepping up their attacks on Hunter Biden in a con man version of bait and switch--attacks that no doubt will continue as long as his father, Joe Biden, is a leading Democratic candidate for president.

The bait: Hunter Biden is corrupt and possibly a criminal. Switch: Investigate him and forget about Donald Trump.

Let's be clear. Hunter Biden is no saint. He has struggled with many personal issues and challenges. But he is not under indictment and he is not on trial.

Many believe that it was unwise for him to accept a seat on the board of Burisma, a Ukranian based international natural gas holding company, because it would expose him and his father to exactly what has unfolded.

That being said, let's look at the underlying arguments for bait and switch.

It's a two-pronged attack: One, that Hunter Biden is intellectually limited and not qualified for almost anything; and two, that he is certainly not qualified to serve on the board of a gas company since he lacks experience with or knowledge about the gas industry.

I don't know Hunter Biden personally. I only know what is available about him from public records. And those records obliterate the two-prong attack on him--the setup for the bait and switch.

First, he is a graduate of Yale Law School--no small intellectual achievement. In other words, contrary to the innuendos, he's no dope.

In terms of work experience, after Yale, he was employed at MBNA, a large bank consortium (later acquired by Bank of America in 2006), where he became senior vice president in 1998--not likely a gratuitous appointment when billions of dollars are at stake.

After leaving that position he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Commerce Department, where he served from 1998-2001. The Commerce Department has employees in all 50 states and 86 foreign countries. Among its functions: "the Department oversees ocean and coastal navigation helps negotiate bilateral trade agreements, and enforces laws that ensure a level playing field for American businesses and workers."

After his stint in the Commerce Department, he returned to MBNA as a consultant on issues related to his work at the Commerce Department, according to a New York Times story.

While family and political connections may have played a role in his acquiring these positions, there is little doubt that he had the education and skills for the jobs. It's reasonable to conclude from his resume that he has considerable knowledge about commerce, finance, law, and management.

In 2008, Hunter Biden founded a consulting firm, Seneca Global Advisors, followed in 2009 by his co-founding the private-equity firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, which established connections to businesses and executives in China and Russia.

These connections per se are not unusual in the global economy. A plethora of American corporations and consulting firms have connections with business leaders and companiesall over the globe.

It's unlikely that American businesses operating overseas are dealing strictly with pristine companies and executives--especially in Russia where it is well known that Putin has his fingers in all the pies.

And Hunter Biden has never been charged with anything illegal in any of his business operations.

"Ok," his attackers might say (and they did): "But what the hell does he know about the gas industry?"

Well, the commerce department where he worked relates in some respects to all industries. But let's go along with the critique. Let's say Hunter Biden knows nothing about the gas industry. The fact is, corporations appoint candidates to boards for a variety of reasons. Often they have little or no specific knowledge about that industry. Trump, as well as his army of enablers in Congress and his attorneys, surely know this.

For example, if an international company is planning to expand into the U.S. market they might appoint to their board someone with high-level contacts in that country in business and government in order to attract investments in the company (Hunter Biden?). Or they may want on the board an attorney (Hunter Biden?) who could advise the company on laws pertinent to expansion into another country--especially a legal professional who is familiar with issues around commerce in that country (Hunter Biden?) Or they may seek a member who could advise them on financial issues and international banking (Hunter Biden?)

Executive Advisory, a Chicago-based research and recruiting firmthat advises executives who are seeking board seats says "Depending on the current state or need of a company, different backgrounds are desired of potential board members." In their recent ranking of company reasonsfor selecting board members "minority" placed at the top of the list (78%) followed by "financial expertise" (66%), "global perspective" (52%), "tech expertise" (52%). Most notably, "specific industry expertise" is listed at only 28%. Thus, even if Hunter Biden had little direct knowledge of the gas industry that is no basis for assuming hanky panky.

But if you are looking for hanky panky in high level and lucrative appointments, look no further than Trump appointees: A head of the Department of Education who is opposed to public education; a Director of the Department of Energy who was a climate denier and an advocate for fossil fuel, who earlier expressed his wish to eliminate the energy department; a relative with no experience or skills to address the Middle East crisis who claims he will succeed in resolving the crisis--when generations of great diplomats have failed--based on his perusal of 25 books on the subject; and Trump is nominating unqualified judges at an unprecedented rate. One approved nominee never tried a case.

Wake up America--You are being conned. And Hunter Biden is not the problem.

Authors Bio:

Bernard Starr has written about climate change since 2007 often calling for a program modeled after the Manhattan Project. He is a psychologist and Professor Emeritus at CUNY, Brooklyn College where he taught developmental psychology to prospective teachers and research methods and statistics in a graduate program that he directed. He is also the lead author of a lifespan textbook-- Human Development and Behavior: Psychology in Nursing. Starr is the founder and for twenty-five years the managing editor of the cutting edge Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics published by Springer; also was editor of the Springer Publishing Co. series Adulthood and Aging and Lifestyle and Issues in Aging. For several years he wrote for the Scripps Howard News Service on healthcare, the boomers, and issues of an aging society. And for seven years he was writer, producer, and host of an award-winning radio commentary, The Longevity Report, on WEVD-AM Radio in NYC. His book, The Starr-Weiner Report On Sex and Sexuality in the Mature years (co-authored with Dr. Marcella Bakur Weiner) provided the first comprehensive data on sexual activity after age 60. He is a past president of the Brooklyn Psychological Association and a past president of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy. He is also the main United Nations representative for the Institute of Global Education (IGE), an NGO with ECOSOC status. His latest book, The Crucifixion of Truth, is a drama about historical antisemitism set in 16th- century Italy and Spain. He also authored Jesus, Jews, and Anti-Semitism in Art. and Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew. His earlier book, Escape Your Own Prison: Why We Need Spirituality and Psychology to be Truly Free, published by Rowman and Littlefield, explores spirituality as a psychology of consciousness. Currently, his articles are published at OpEdNews. Previously, he published on the Huffington Post contributor platform. Starr has also published in Salon, Barons Financial Magazine, the Algemeiner, and the New York Daily News.