Maybe it needs house-training, but here it is:

What if Hunter unconsciously WANTED to leave the laptop at the shop past the 90-day limit KNOWING there was a possibility that the repair guy (aware of who Hunter is) wouldn't be able to resist looking at what was on it?

Is that a stretch? Maybe. But Hunter's got a Fredo complex (with an Oedipal lemon twist, of course). His Dad's a man who's successful, powerful, overbearing and arrogant; Hunter on the other hand is a chronic man-child loser. How do you get as depraved as he is? One way is to have an abusive upbringing, maybe even with a sexual element. Having a pathological liar for a role model doesn't exactly help, either. His dependency-aggressive resentment is clear in that email to his sister where he says that unlike “the Big Guy” he won’t make her give him a 50% take.*

Hunter’s been basically just his father's bag man/errand boy for years now. Look at his history: he's been such a consistent fuckup, from his Navy discharge to this latest scandal, there just HAS to be anger and revenge involved: embarrassing Daddy, shouting to the world in all but words: “Look what he did to me! Look at all my fuckups and guess who’s responsible!”

The counter-argument is that Hunter had no way of knowing that the laptop would be read. True. But how about a certain quasi-deliberate forgetfulness, giving the guy the OPPORTUNITY to read it, making sure the term expired so he could do it legally? Maybe the odds are that nothing will happen, the repair guy will just wipe the thing. Or maybe not.

Hunter should never have even let this scenario be a possibility, no matter how long the odds. Hence, strategic, passive-aggressive carelessness--but unconscious. Unconsciously he liked the thought of how those bombshells could hurt his father. The crowning revenge for Hunter, if you take his history into account, would be to destroy the Big Guy's last shot at the White House.

No, I’m not a shrink. Some smart-alecky Pede here can pull out Hanlon’s razor and say “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (or crack).” Fair enough. On the other hand, the puzzle pieces fit together strangely well when you look at all this from a psychological POV.

(And yeah, I’m sure I’m not the first person to consider this possibility.)

• Exact words of text message:

"…I don’t receive any respect and that’s fine I guess…I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary."

How Fredo is that?