On the first stop of what you might call Roger Stone’s Corruption Victory Tour on the Hannity show last night, he showed more gratitude toward Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity than to Donald Trump. Maybe Stone just wanted to scare Trump into thinking his silence is not perpetually guaranteed. Or maybe Stone wants a Fox contract.

On Hannity last night, Stone did nothing wrong. In the reality-based, law-abiding world, he should have gone to jail. Even Trump toady William Barr thinks so.

From CNN:

Consider what Stone was convicted of by a jury of his peers: seven charges including lying to Congress about his contacts with Trump campaign officials in regards the release of a series of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee's servers by the Russians and subsequently posted on the website WikiLeaks.

...

Stunning stuff [the pardon was], with a deeply-problematic message underlying it all.

But on Trump TV, Stone was pampered like a great patriot, probably in the hope that he remains loyal to Dear Leader.

Stone lavished so much praise on his Fox News besties that you have to wonder if he isn’t looking for a Fox News contract next:

STONE: Well, this is the most horrible experience you can have because I see immediately why 99 percent of the people who choose to plead not guilty and go to trial lose, when you're up against the horrific and deep-pocketed resources of the federal government and these really sadistic, arrogant, politically motivated prosecutors.

And I had a biased judge. I had a stacked jury. I had a corrupt jury forewoman. As my friend Tucker Carlson said, my trial was over before it started.

And when you go through something like this, Sean, you find out who your real friends are and who the people are who really never were your friends.

You have been a tremendous friend. You have done a great job of keeping people informed.

But I have to really single out your Fox News colleague Tucker Carlson. He took up the cudgels early. He stayed on this case with every twist and turn, wasn't afraid to take on the judge, laid out the jury question, encouraged me when I got discouraged.

He's a man of incredible loyalty and he's a great friend. He may be the best friend a man can have. So my hats off to him.

Stone also loves Rep. Matt Gaetz and other Fox News figures:

STONE: And also Congressman Matt Gaetz from Florida who I hope to live long enough to see in the White House. He was a great friend who never gave up and tried to make sure everybody understood the injustice that I had been through.

But so many others, Bernie Kerik, the former New York police commissioner, and Charlie Kirk, Reverend Franklin Graham, Pastors Mark Burns and Darrell Scott, you know, Randy Coggins, a dynamic young evangelist from Florida, the entire Flynn family, General Mike Flynn, a man who is still being persecuted.

My hats off to all of them because they helped me and my wife and my family through the scariest, most difficult process you can imagine.

But above all, I must tell you, Sean, based on advice from you and Reverend Graham and the two pastors I mentioned, I really want to thank God because I was literally hours away from being sent to a COVID-infested prison in violation of current Bureau of Prisons and DOJ policies, in violation of every precedent in the country where people going to jail or in jail were asking for compassionate release, and in every case, it was granted. …

So you -- particularly Tucker, Matt Gaetz and everybody I named, my heart goes out to you. I'm deeply, deeply grateful.

But more than anything else, I am grateful for God because as you told me, if I would -- if I would rededicate my life to Christ, I would be reborn.

Later, Stone thanked Trump but the praise sounded a whole lot fainter to me:

STONE: Above all, though, I guess I'd have to say, the most important thing here is the courageousness of the president's act.

…

So I have deep, deep affection for Donald Trump because I've known him 40 years. He's a man of great justice and fairness. He's a man of enormous courage. I knew he would take some shots for this, but I think most people, most fair-minded people, understand he saved my life and at least on paper he gave me a chance to fight for vindication.

After a lot of whining about how unfair the system that convicted Stone of seven felonies by a unanimous jury, Hannity declared: “I'll be honest, Roger. I believe in our Constitution. I believe in our rule of law. I think I’ve read a lot about equal justice and applications of our laws. I don't see any of this in any of these cases.”

Sure he does. That is, when Hannity's not advocating for scofflaw ranchers to engage in armed insurrection against law enforcers and when he’s not baselessly trying to frame murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich for leaking to Wikileaks. But maybe in Hannity’s spare time, when it's convenient, he reveres the rule of law.

By the way, “rule of law” Hannity still owes the Rich family and the rest of us an apology for those smears.

You can watch Hannity and Stone disgrace our system of justice below, from the July 13, 2020 Hannity.