Sean Hannity’s eagerness to serve President Trump has landed him in hot water. Well, tepid water anyway. Fox News doesn’t seem likely to give him any punishment more harsh than 20 lashes with a wet noodle, so long as he keeps his ratings up.
The Fox News host promised Monday he would not join Trump on stage for his final campaign rally before the November midterm elections. “In spite of reports,” Hannity tweeted, “I will be doing a live show from Cape Girardeau and interviewing President Trump before the rally. To be clear, I will not be on stage campaigning with the President. I am covering final rally for my show. Something I have done in every election in the past.”
His assurances were made in response to an announcement Sunday that he would appear as a “special guest” at Trump’s rally. A few hours after Hannity assured his followers Monday he would “not be on stage campaigning with the President,” he was on stage campaigning with the president. The evening started with the Fox News host giving Trump one of his usual softball interviews. Later, during the rally, the president beckoned Hannity to the stage. Hannity indulged him immediately.
Taking the podium, Hannity helped whip the crowd into a frenzy by attacking the press.
“By the way, all those people in the back are fake news,” he said. The press pool included Fox News journalists.
Fox’s Jeanine Pirro also appeared on stage with Trump.
On Tuesday, a network spokesperson responded to the spectacle of two of its opinion anchors campaigning with the president of the United States.
“Fox News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” the spokesperson said. “This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.”
Hannity himself addressed the issue Tuesday, tweeting a sort of apology to the Fox News reporters he called “fake news.”
“To be clear, I was not referring to my journalist colleagues at FOX News in those remarks. They do amazing work day in and day out in a fair and balanced way and It is an honor to work with such great professionals,” he tweeted.
Hannity also alleged his appearance was totally spontaneous and not at all planned.
“What I said in my tweet yesterday was 100% truthful. When the POTUS invited me on stage to give a few remarks last night, I was surprised, yet honored by the president’s request. This was NOT planned,” he alleged.
The cable news host would have us believe the announcement this weekend that he would appear as a “special guest” at Trump’s final midterm rally was bogus, that he told the truth when he disputed it, and that he was spontaneously called to the stage anyway. This version of events is difficult to believe, to put it mildly. The more believable alternative is that Sunday’s announcement was always accurate.
Hannity shouldn’t have joined Trump on stage regardless of whether the appearance was planned or spontaneous. But Hannity’s longstanding estrangement from propriety isn’t the most interesting issue. The thing that interests me most is whether the network will give Hannity a total pass, even though he appeared with the president and is almost certainly lying about how this came about. Smart money says the network does absolutely nothing. After all, the man is a ratings machine.
