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   XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.global-warming, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
      
   He’s gone in the tank for Donald Trump. Let’s leave him there..   
      
      
   The nonrevelation in Monday’s New York Times that the Fox News Channel’s Sean   
   Hannity has been advising Donald Trump as well as fawning all over him was   
   met with predictable handwringing. Dana Milbank, in the Washington Post,   
   pointed out that Hannity—who’d told the Times’ Jim Rutenberg in the piece   
   that he was not a journalist—had previously called himself a “journalist.”   
   Rutenberg himself took Hannity to task for his lack of honesty, and called   
   the entire network’s behavior into question. (Roger Ailes, the former head of   
   Fox News, is also reportedly advising his fellow feminist Trump.) Whether or   
   not Hannity is a journalist, he should certainly be honest with viewers,   
   which he has not been. But the mini-scandal seemed to be fueled by a wish for   
   Hannity to comport himself according to the abstemious norms of Serious   
   Journalism. Why? Hannity is self-actualizing before our very eyes. He’s a   
   hack in full now, and everyone knows it.   
      
      
      
   Even if Hannity’s relationship with Trump is unsurprising, there can be no   
   denying that the host has placed himself into a special category of   
   bootlicker this year. While it’s true that conservative personalities from   
   Rush Limbaugh to Fox’s own Bill O’Reilly have tied themselves in knots trying   
   to “explain” the giant pile of horseshit and arrant nonsense that is Donald   
   Trump, Hannity has gone further than one would have thought possible. In his   
   numerous interviews with the candidate, he has acted as a conduit for   
   whatever message the Trump campaign is trying to get across to the base. He   
   has also helped Trump avoid gaffes that his nonbase might not appreciate.   
   Back in April, ThinkProgress found that Hannity had interviewed Trump 41   
   times since the start of his presidential run in June 2015; the candidate   
   didn’t make news once. Hannity has also begun circulating some of the Trump   
   campaign’s (more) insane theories, such as those about Hillary Clinton’s   
   health. (My favorite Hannity “questions” consist of his asking Trump why the   
   rest of the media is asking Trump actual questions.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)