Sean Hannity began his Fox News show on Monday night by saying that, actually, Donald Trump getting infected with COVID-19 just shows how much he cares about America. Though he didn’t explain why it was necessary for Trump to frequently ignore CDC guidelines about wearing masks and social distancing.
“We are now less than one month away from this presidential election. In just 29 days, you, the American people, you become the ultimate jury. You will make that decision,” Hannity said.
“Now there are many key issues in play this time and so much is at stake. But tonight one key question does stand out: Do you want a leader who’s willing to fight every minute of every day for the country, for the people of the country, or do you want to, well, to be honest, a shadow of a man who hides in his basement bunker disappearing and putting a lid on things most days by 10 a.m.?”
That last jab is representative of how conservative media has continued to accuse Joe Biden of hiding in his basement, a baseless refrain.
“Now in order to clearly answer this question, let’s take a step back and think about who we are as a nation, as a people. What does our anthem say? Land of the free, home of the brave. Do we really mean that, or are they just words? What defines us? What does it mean to be an American rugged individualist?” Hannity kept going.
“Do we run from important challenges? Do we cower in fear? Do we appease our enemies? Or do we get up every day and fight to make our country a more perfect union? Remember 1933 during the height of the Great Depression? My father was growing up in those years on the brink of a world war. Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaiming we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
“Hannity” then played a clip from that speech, in which FDR declared: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror. Which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
But that wasn’t the only past world leader Hannity wanted to compare Trump with.
“And on the other side of the Atlantic, 1940, the great Winston Churchill echoed this fearless call to action, a powerful address, victory at all cost victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be for without victory, there is no survival.”
Even though Hannity read most of the quote there, the show played the clip of Churchill saying those words anyway.
“And during the bombing of Britain, where was he?” Hannity asked. “Every day going out, risking his life, being among the people of Great Britain. In times of great hardship you must fight for survival and that is exactly what the president has done during this country’s battle against COVID-19.”
Trump has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic regularly over the past six months even as it killed more than 200,000 Americans, and openly opposed efforts to control the spread of the virus.
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