What a coincidence that just as Trump World tries to rebrand his “go back” tweets as patriotism, not racist at all, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich accused the four congresswomen of color Trump attacked as anti-American, too, because they exercised their Constitutional rights of dissent.
Anyone not invested in defending Glorious Leader no matter what (and let’s not forget that Hannity has attached his fortunes to Trump like a leech on a host) recognizes the racist trope behind the tweets telling four American citizens, three of whom were born here, to “go back” to the “crime infested places” they came from. But now, as Politico reports, Trump’s campaign is working furiously to “repackage the attack as a broader patriotic message.”
Naturally, Fox News and Trump Bedtime BFF Sean Hannity are there to help with the messaging. So last night, he teamed up with contributor Newt Gingrich.
I suppose we should be grateful that at least nobody called the tweets comedy, as Fox & Friends did on Sunday. But really, attacking Americans for acting as Americans is just as dangerous, as it’s McCarthyism at its worst.
With unintentional irony, Gingrich complained, “The only battle cry the hard left has is to call bad names. … They just try to smear people with names that make them reprehensible.”
Of course, it’s hard to think of any battle cry Trump has other than to insult everyone that peeves him. But, on Fox, Trump’s childish attacks don’t count! Also, not surprisingly, Hannity singled out the Fox News scapegoat Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose country of origin is Somalia.
HANNITY: The president said, “love it or leave it.” It's not really a new concept. That is, it's been said many, many times in the past, which is kind of with the president said, except in his own way.
Here's the problem. And he did say, by the way, after you fix the problems in Somalia, then you can come back and show us how to do it.
But, here are some of the laws, I looked them up today, in Somalia, a woman that has an abortion, you've got to be punished for one to five years. If you are and anti-Islam or bring the religion of Islam into contempt, that's punishable in jail at least a couple of years. If you happen to be gay or lesbian, that, too, is punishable three months to three years. That is where she came from.
FACT CHECK: Trump has threatened to punish women for having an abortion. And if Omar has ever talked nostalgically about Somalia, do let me know.
Hannity continued by baselessly suggesting, just like Trump (and Fox host Brian Kilmeade) that Omar is somehow in league with Al Qaeda. Gingrich piled on to suggest that all Democrats are anti-American who should be prosecuted for their beliefs.
HANNITY: I would think that when we hear her talk about al Qaeda and America's reaction to the death of 3,000 Americans, maybe she would be a little bit more sympathetic considering she views herself as a super patriot and more appreciative of America than the rest of America is.
GINGRICH: You know, I watched the last three or four days and I think I was particularly struck by the attack in Colorado where some thousand people attacked the ICE administration building, tore down the American flag, painted “Abolish ICE" on it, put the flag up upside down as an act of contempt and then flew the Mexican flag.
And that, to me, part of this whole process. And what hit me and I'm trying to figure out how to right this frankly, we ought to be angry. I mean, we ought to say, “Enough of this stuff.” When you have people who lie, and I wrote a column recently about AOC, just plain despicable, destructive liar. That's what she is.
FACT CHECK: Putting aside God knows how many lies Gingrich told two wives when he was cheating on them, before marrying mistress Callista Bisek, after a six-year adulterous affair, it’s hard to think of any bigger liar than Trump. Don't tell me Gingrich doesn’t know that.
Predictably, Hannity let Gingrich continue without challenge to his selective concern for truth.
GINGRICH: And when you watch these people, you're right about Omar. I mean, Omar ought to be grateful that she lives in a country which protects her rights, which gives her prosperity, which gives her a structure of life -- unimaginable in Mogadishu. And instead, she has contempt for the country which she's been living in.
[…]
GINGRICH: When you talk to 95 percent of the legal immigrants who come to America, they are grateful to be here. They are thrilled to live under the rule of law. They think it's wonderful that they can work hard and have a prosperous future. They think their children will be dramatically better off.
And for some reason, what you are seeing emerges this little tiny sliver of left-wing fanatics who have come to believe things that are factually false and I just want to say, I'm prepared to stand up and say unequivocally, these people are dishonest, I understand the sentiment the president was expressing, and I have some of the same feeling, frankly. I mean, if she dislikes America this much, why is she here? And I think that's a fair question.
From there, they moved on to suggest that all the Democrats are as anti-American as Omar, et al.
Watch the McCarthyism below, from the July 15, 2019 Hannity, via Media Matters.