Snowflake Sean Hannity just can't stand seeing the press asking tough questions of his Glorious Leader. So he's longing for Donald Trump to remain in his safe space of the Twitterverse.
After Trump shockingly botched the firing of FBI Director James Comey (and potentially opened himself up to impeachment), even Republican allies are reportedly worrying aloud about Trump’s mental competence. But Hannity reacted in his typical fashion: by attacking the so-called liberal media. In other words, Hannity wants to cover up Trump's failings.
On Friday, after news came down that Trump was thinking of canceling press briefings, Hannity opened his monologue by spewing invective at those who would dare question his beloved. (Transcript excerpts via the Fox News transcript, with my emphases added):
HANNITY: The commander-in-chief is not taking the lies, the smear, the slander, the besmirchment any more from the destroy-Trump, propaganda-media and the Democrats. The president has had enough. Tonight, he’s fighting back.
Hannity fashions himself as a champion of free speech. But, apparently, the First Amendment stops at the right to ask tough questions of his beloved. Instead, Hannity thinks we should just let Trump tweet his messages without any public questions, probing or challenge:
HANNITY: If the propaganda destroy Trump media—and they’re going to smear and slander him and his administration and his family and lie about facts and what he’s done, why bother? Why waste the energy trying to appease people who obviously hate his guts and want to destroy him and who twist his words and damage him every single day?
Now, the president—he doesn’t need fake news media to reach you, the American people. So you know what? As long as they keep reporting fake news, bizarre conspiracy theories and show this bizarre fascination and paranoia about Russia, how about no more press conferences for the Hillary Clinton-colluding media?
Instead, I think every week, the president should tweet out all of his accomplishments going back to day one, update people daily about what he’s doing and what he’s accomplishing. And the president is also—he can take to Twitter. He can respond to the barrage of attacks, this ridiculous the conspiracy theory about Russia that is being pushed with no evidence and (ph) collusion.
Fox News contributor and Trump vice presidential contender Newt Gingrich was all in on canceling the briefings:
GINGRICH: One [member of the administration] ought to go in every day, and give out the list of things that have been done, maybe introduce a cabinet officer or a subcabinet officer or somebody who’s done something positive. They should take the country through all the positive things they’re doing, and then leave, but not have the press corps there, simply give a briefing. It’ll be on YouTube. It’ll be on Facebook. It’ll be—may well be on C-SPAN every day, and say to the press corps, You take any part of this you want, but we’re not answering your questions.
I mean, the more they get sucked into dancing with the elite media, the more they’re dancing on the quicksand of the swamp. And in the long run, that’s not where the country is. It’s not what the country cares about. And I think it is, frankly, a dangerous detour for them to play these games with the news media.
Clearly, the only “dangerous detour” Gingrich cares about is on behalf of Trump. But it’s a far bigger danger to our democracy.
Jeff Mason, president of the White House Correspondents Association explains why:
White House Correspondents' Association statement on press briefings. pic.twitter.com/qAzrzehENL
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) May 12, 2017
As Slate noted, “It’s pretty obvious why a man like Trump, who tends to make up his version of the truth as he goes along, would want to shut down a venue in which his spokespeople have to defend him in real time, on live TV.”
But what’s Hannity’s excuse? In short, there is none for anyone who hosts any show on a cable news network to help further an attack on the First Amendment. It proves once again, that Hannity’s concern is to promote his politics. Period, full stop. He not only doesn’t mind if democracy gets shredded in the process, he’s cheering it along.
Watch the authoritarianism below, from the May 12, 2017 Hannity: