Sharing a screen with a large graphic that blared “THE DAY IMPEACHMENT DIED,” Sean Hannity gave himself a lot of credit for supposedly killing it – and promised “the real Russia investigation is only beginning.”
Hannity began his eponymous prime time show last night declaring a Fox News alert about the death of the “witch hunt” and the start of a new round of anti-American demonization of Democrats and the media, i.e. anyone daring to question Glorious Leader Donald Trump.
HANNITY: And, yes, we begin with this Fox News alert. The witch hunt is dead, gone. It is buried. The real Russia investigation is only beginning.
…
Impeachment, well, now, it's political suicide, because it's finished. It's over.
Before long, Hannity was giving himself credit for Team Trump’s supposed victory.
HANNITY: Now, for years on this program, and I want to say a very big thank you to the ensemble team that we have. I can't mention everybody. I won't even begin to.
But you know the people that we have had on. And we have been in the forefront of peeling one layer of the onion after another after another after another. It has been arduous. It has been shoe-leather reporting, the way it should be done.
And we were in the minority as others perpetrated the lying, the hoax, the collusion, the conspiracy theories. And you know what? We told you from the beginning that the president was burdened with an unjust, bias witch hunt.
We told you that today's hearing was nothing more than a political stunt, a Hail Mary, last ditch effort to keep the narrative alive. We also told you that Mueller's testimony would likely backfire on the Democrats. And as it turns, we were right all along.
Hannity next gave partial credit to Attorney General William Barr:
HANNITY: Now, part of this, as, well, the Attorney General Barr has stated. And, of course, we have John Durham [the U.S. attorney investigating origins of the Mueller probe], we have the inspector general. We have the attorney general of the United States saying full on that he will get to the bottom of all of this -- a rigged investigation, a dirty dossier with Russian lies, a real Russia influence story, which by the way, it seems, and Mueller even acknowledged today that, well, looks like the Russians with that phony dossier were trying to hurt President Trump the entire time, even "The New York Times," recognizing that that Russian dossier was likely Russian disinformation from the get-go. Only took him two and a half years to catch up. That's sad.
What’s really sad is that Hannity actually deserves credit. Media Matters explains how Fox and especially Hannity have led the charge in preventing Donald Trump from being held accountable:
Fox spent years poisoning the well for Mueller’s probe. The network’s commentators, led by Sean Hannity, told their audience that Trump and his associates were innocent victims of a sinister plot by “deep state” operatives trying to pull off a “soft coup.” Since Mueller concluded his work, Fox personalities have been diligently lying about what his report said and amping up calls to investigate the investigators. That coverage -- frequently echoed by Trump himself -- has shaped the opinions of Fox viewers on the Mueller investigation.
This years-long effort came to a head on Wednesday, with Hannity effectively dictating the GOP’s strategy in handling Mueller. The night before the hearings, he urged congressional Republicans to focus their attention not on the results of the investigation, but on the investigators. And that’s exactly what many of them did, using questions ripped from Hannity’s program to demand Mueller weigh in on the network’s conspiracy theories.
Watch the preening below, from the July 24, 2019 Hannity.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1874349
Mueller’s mule-headed refusal to address Republican attacks on his investigation with some minor weak exceptions made him look guilty, even incompetent. It’s infuriating because it can’t be fixed.
Get prepared for an endless spew by Fox News of this puke. Mueller’s epic fail of a hearing has empowered conservatives. On the other hand, MSNBC acts like it’s attending a funeral.