I shouldn’t have to write this article. I should be able to trust conservative thought leaders to make reasonable, fair arguments for why they believe what they believe without embracing tactics that would make Joy Reid blush. Unfortunately, Sean Hannity forced my hand with his embarrassing attempt to take down Lauren Boebert on Wednesday evening.
The exchange between Boebert and the Fox News host centered on the congresswoman’s opposition to McCarthy and why she won’t vote for him to become the Speaker of the House. Here’s how that went if you were smart enough to be doing something else during Hannity’s show.
Sean Hannity doesn’t seem to understand why Lauren Boebert and other Republicans won’t take orders from Trump to elect McCarthy just because he’s making the demand. Trump isn’t the emperor.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 5, 2023
If Sean Hannity is helping lead the conservative movement, is it any wonder it’s in such disarray? He even goes so far as to accuse Boebert of giving him an answer like a “liberal” because she won’t do whatever Donald Trump tells her to do. Is that really the extent of Hannity’s politics? Trump saying jump and him asking how high? As I said, it’s embarrassing.
What happened to taking on the “establishment?” What happened to voting one’s conscience and standing up against the Washington status quo? I’m not saying that Hannity can’t support who he wants, but if he has a compelling reason for why McCarthy should be Speaker, he didn’t share it. Instead, he spouted the same beltway insider, oligarchic nonsense that so many on the right have come to despise. Congressional members should not vote a certain way just because the party’s leadership and Donald Trump tell them to.
Further, Hannity is misleading his viewers in the exchange about the tension between Boebert and Trump, making it seem as if she singled out the former president unprovoked. In reality, it was Trump who went to Boebert (and the rest of the holdouts) first and told her to fall in line behind McCarthy. She was responding to him, not the other way around.
I will levy one criticism of Boebert, though, because she’s done it twice now since this infighting broke out. She should really drop the “my favorite president” line when discussing her disagreement with Trump. It makes her look weak even when she’s actually showing strength. We get it, she’s a Trump supporter, but that’s not really relevant in this battle, and she should make it clear that she doesn’t take orders from anyone.
Regardless, I shouldn’t be surprised by Hannity’s lack of judgment. This is the same guy who lobbied for Donald Trump to endorse Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania during the last election. We all know how that turned out, and it’s just another in a long line of bad decisions. The Republican Party really could use some fresh thinkers in high positions of influence.
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