After the shooting at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newsroom, Sean Hannity got to work “defending” his own and Donald Trump’s incendiary attacks on the press by pretending they hadn’t happened. And, as if unable to help himself, Hannity attacked CNN’s Brian Stelter as an “idiot” for saying that journalists have been afraid of such a shooting.
As I wrote yesterday, when Hannity attempted to blame Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters for the shooting, he and Bedtime BFF Trump have a well-documented history of demonizing the press with such language as calling them “the enemy of the people” (Trump) and Hannity cheering on Trump’s tweet showing him decking someone from CNN in a mock wrestling match.
But now Hannity whined about being called out for blaming Waters (and President Obama) for the shooting, pretending he hadn’t and pretending neither he nor Trump had made incendiary attacks on the press – while also suggesting that the attacks were deserved:
HANNITY: It really is infuriating. As harsh as I’ve been against Maxine Waters, these are separate issues and her call to confront people. This is separate and apart, as I said 10 times on my radio show today.
The language is getting out of control. But there was a race today to say, well, just because the president says fake news and he believes—and as I do that the media lies - they almost were trying to say wow, I wonder if this is a Trump supporter.
... Words do matter, though. But the president saying "fake news" … is not bad because they do lie constantly.
[...]
Words, at the end of the day, they are dangerous, but people ... are responsible for their own actions. And that - I would encourage people to tone it down a little bit.
Translation: Just because Trump and I demonize the press all the time, don’t blame us for this tragedy!
Then, in case you actually believe Hannity meant it when he claimed to care about rhetoric getting “out of control,” he gratuitously attacked Stelter moments later:
HANNITY: But, honestly ... you know, there is one idiot on CNN, 'a moment many journalists have feared.' And you know what they're implying there. They're implying if you say 'fake news' … and call these people out for being, really, liars and an extension of the Democratic Party and left wingers, oh, that’s somehow a motivation for somebody. No, it’s not. That’s just telling the truth actually.
Although Hannity did not name Stelter, it was he who had said on CNN, “It’s a moment that I think so many journalists have feared for a long time regardless of whether this newsroom was targeted or not, this is a fear on many journalists’ minds.”
In Hannity’s attack-when-you’re-guilty mind, that was an occasion to smear, not sympathize, not to take any personal responsibility for needlessly inflaming tensions.
In short, even when Hannity tries to hide his lack of decency, he can’t.
Watch Hannity show his true colors below, from the June 28, 2018 Hannity.
(Transcript excerpts via Fox News)
Bill Kristol
I say this as someone who was on Fox for a decade and had no beef (though little interaction) with Bill Shine: It’s a disgrace that a man who, it turns out, enabled and covered up truly repulsive behavior by Roger Ailes, would get a senior White House job.