Is Sean Hannity an idiot? It’s not too soon to say
In the Vegas shooting aftermath, TV commentator points finger at anyone criticizing gun laws
Sean Hannity is to journalism as a gun is to yoga.
As the leading merchant of bile on Fox News — and that’s saying something — Hannity exists in a lucrative state of boiling rage. With the visage of a butter statue and the insights of a Gap mannequin, Hannity slips into high dudgeon each night and then proceeds to condemn anyone deemed an enemy of America, a list of turncoats and traitors that rarely includes any actual enemies of America.
No, in Hannity’s funhouse of grievance and perceived threat, the enemies are always domestic. Russia could invade America and Hannity would blame California or Rachel Maddow. It’s a simple equation: Anyone left of centre is scum.
If a liberal scientist discovered a cure for cancer, Hannity would have no choice but to be pro-tumour.
The no-fly list on his cultural radar now also includes “the mainstream media,” “the Hollywood elite” and, increasingly, “late-night comedians.”
Sometimes, as on Tuesday night, Hannity wants them all jailed for treason.
Broadcasting from Las Vegas, where the worst mass shooting in modern American history just horrified the world, Hannity was in no mood for the “disgraceful” mob of squeamish quislings who’ve had the nerve to resurrect the thorny issue of gun control after yet another shooting massacre.
He glowered at the camera and played a few recent clips of late-night hosts delivering barbed commentary about the tragedy, including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers. The comedians were sombre and clearly rattled as they lamented the senselessness of it all, chastising the politicians who always send thoughts and prayers but never change the laws. To Sean, this kind of caring is immoral. “This is beyond shameful, making political statements, calling for things like gun control less than 24 hours after something like this happens,” said Hannity, a gun enthusiast who’d definitely be calling for something within 24 seconds if the shooter had been named Ali or Mohammed. “It is utterly disgraceful.” Indeed. This “too soon” talking point, which was all over Fox News this week, is of course a red herring to distract from the fact that people like Hannity have no good arguments as to why any civilian should have easy and legal access to military-grade weaponry.
This isn’t a political statement. It’s common sense. If seat cushions murdered as many Americans each year as firearms, do you know how illegal sofas would be right now?
And the immediate aftermath of yet another gun-related killing spree is exactly the time to talk about it for the same reason we talk about viral contagions during an outbreak of Ebola and not six months later. If asteroids started falling out of the sky and wiping out entire towns, only a fool would say it’s too soon to look up.
But Hannity was having none of the logic, which is his kryptonite.
After mocking the late-night comedians, he trained his AK-47 of a mouth on the celebrities — including Lena Dunham, Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid, Alyssa Milano and Sophia Bush — who also offered pointed commentary this week about gun control.
“Now is not the time to make cheap political points, divide the country, push your cheap political agenda and try and use the tragedy to further a bitter, partisan agenda,” Hannity thundered, blissfully unaware of the irony.
If the Emmys handed out a trophy for gall, Hannity’s “opening monologue” on Tuesday would be the clear front-runner. Here is a guy who does nothing except try to score cheap political points. The only way Hannity could be more divisive is if he cut people in half. Night after night, month after month, year after year, he pushes his partisan agenda like a dung beetle, rolling his ball of intellectually dishonest excrement against a backdrop in which there is neither shame nor objective truth.
Forget guns for a moment. If Sean Hannity really loved America, he’d be calling for an immediate ban on Sean Hannity. But he doesn’t really love America. He just loves getting his fans to join him in a circle of hate. On Tuesday, amid the unhinged monologue, Hannity also played a clip from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, in which Michael Che called Donald Trump a “cheap cracker” over the anemic disaster response in Puerto Rico.
What did that clip have to do with the gun-control debate? Nothing.
But then this bloated talking head has never concerned himself with facts or rational arguments. He is in the business of partisan spectacle, a man who makes millions by playing a superpatriot on TV. He is now locked into a war of his own making, a battle in which he drapes himself with the flag while simultaneously stomping on the values that have always defined American greatness.
If Sean Hannity ever stopped shouting, he’d realize he is the enemy. vmenon@thestar.ca