CNN reporter Jim Acosta had some choice words for Sean Hannity tonight, after Trump's Bedtime BFF gave a big thumbs up to an angry mob's harassment of Acosta at a Trump rally last night. UPDATED.
This is was the frightening tableau Acosta faced:
Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018
Instead of trying to calm the hostilities, Hannity deliberately ratcheted them up: "They're screaming at you for a reason. They don’t like your unfair, abusively biased treatment of the president of the United States," Hannity scolded. "In other words, coverage like this from the White House correspondent at CNN – this is why they’re doing it." As if Hannity wouldn't have cowered like a chickenhawk had he faced a similarly angry mob of Democrats.
So, good on Acosta for calling out Hannity for exactly what he is:
Hannity is a propagandist for profit, peddling lies every night. He says he’s just a talk show host, not a journalist. But he’s injecting poison into the nation’s political bloodstream warping public attitudes about the press. I’m confident in the long run the truth will prevail.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 2, 2018
(Acosta image via screen grab)
8/2/18: Hannity responded with a tweet that proved Acosta right.
That said, the greater hypocrisy is the Trump sycophants wetting their pants over liberals confronting administration officials in restaurants. It’s an outrage some woman (with her child in tow) confronted Pruitt in a restaurant. Or Sanders got booted from a Washington restaurant.
A crowd acting up against CNN at a Trump rally? That’s great! It’s an expression of free speech – mouthed hypocritically by former victim Sarah Sanders herself!
Am I a hypocrite too by applauding the former while condemning the latter? I don’t think so. Because the mob shouting at Acosta weren’t sincere citizens rationally and calmly talking policy in the case of the woman confronting Pruitt. Or staff offended by the policies and lies of Sanders. No, the crowd was expressing intolerance that a news organization had the audacity to contradict their ignorance-based political beliefs (fueled by the thousands of lies Trump has told) with provable facts.
We are in post-factual America where the emotional appeals of a fascist demagogue like Trump are the foundation of conservative political views and policy. Facts be damned. In such a toxic environment who needs the press reminding the Trumpsters of uncomfortable truths?
You are dealing with evil. We call him, Hannie Pie, the Seven-Headed Beast from the Abyss, for good reasons.
Pie goes to great length to hide his past from the public. Note the word, tries. Hahahahaha!
NOTE TO HANNITY
Jim Acosta will have the last laugh. 100,000 per cent guarantee! No, make that 100,000,000 per cent guarantee!