Ellen, I have a strong feeling that Hannity’s new idea of his “Opening Monologue” is based on his belief that Trump is watching the first few minutes of his show. It is more than likely that all of these shows are being geared for Trump to watch the opening ten minutes each time around – for O’Reilly’s Talking Points, Hannity’s monologue, etc. Idea being that they put their big push of the day into the first position so that Trump and Pence see that right away and can either opine about it themselves or take action.

It is not an accident that O’Reilly put a victory lap about “Kate’s Law” on the front burner. He wants to be able to take credit for this one as one of his crowning achievements. (I note that O’Reilly has no credibility on these kinds of issues – last week, he was hosting and supporting a notorious Right Wing California State Senator who has been spreading vicious lies about California legalizing teen prostitution when that was blatantly false.)

I also note that O’Reilly is planning to give his “response” to President Obama’s farewell address this evening. Given how O’Reilly has already consigned Obama to the trash heap and has dismissed his entire presidency, we can expect some further viciousness and bullying tonight. I’d give a 90 percent chance that O’Reilly grudgingly acknowledges that Obama and his family are decent people before going into a litany of Right Wing attack points designed to portray the last 8 years as a mire of failure and scandal – exactly the way Fox News has been priming its viewers to feel.

I.e., O’Reilly is expecting it will pass in the new Congress.

Kevin,

I think you nailed how Fox will operate and prod the GOP perfectly. Kate’s Law is a good example. O’Reilly was crowing tonight about getting it passed.

I would argue that Fox News has always been Trump TV, as they’ve pretty much pushed his candidacy throughout the process, albeit with a couple of hiccups when he took silly swipes at them. 95% of the time, Fox News has been completely in the tank for him, even when he was attacking Megyn Kelly. Sean Hannity certainly never let that kind of thing slow his support for Trump down by a nanosecond.

But I would also argue that as much as Fox News is Trump TV, there is a symbiotic relationship and in fact the Mike Pence White House will also function as the Fox News White House. Because we already know these guys love Fox News and follow their spin at every turn. Trump regularly tweets a take on the news that comes from watching either O’Reilly or Hannity, and Pence is completely sympathetic to the farthest right wing musings Fox News can muster.

So we can expect to see Fox News offer unabashed support to the Pence White House (under the cloak of patriotism, something they conveniently forgot about while viciously attacking Barack Obama for 8 years, but who cares about that…?). And we can expect that Fox News will begin running regular stories designed to nudge the Pence White House into action. For example, a story about how awful Planned Parenthood really is – which will trigger a Jeff Sessions announcement and a Pence move to cut their funding. Or perhaps a story about fraud in the DACA program, which will be followed by a Jeff Sessions announcement about upcoming deportations of the DACA participants and a series of unannounced raids to get these people when they least expect it. Or maybe a few stories about how criminal prosecution still looms for Hillary Clinton, followed by the inevitable Jeff Sessions announcement and the perp walk of the Clintons before the political theater of their trial over…who knows what?

On the other hand, Sean Hannity will finally get to go to the White House this year for an exclusive interview with Donald Trump and/or Mike Pence, so he can cross that off his bucket list. I’m sure that will make up for the serious problems about to be faced by millions, including those who had the temerity to sign up for the ACA when they should have known that the GOP would never allow it to stand.

Ya know, Trump is in the perfect position to betray these right wing assholes. I don’t think the man really intended to be President. But he’s stuck with it now. I hope he operates on the old Latin healer’s maxim, first, do no harm. Also another one from Roman times, keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer.
Cuddle up to that, Rupert Murdoch!

I am no longer a democrats(go a long to get along) party. I am so glad and now a progressive. What the real American fail to realize is that we have the power, the little nickels and dimes add up. STOP BUYING from companies who advertise on MSM who do not have ours’ best interest. We have so many choices and we can start our own companies to counter the MSM and companies that have sold us to the Russians and the KGB and FBI. Wake the fuck up, no more lips server but really action!!!