Right-wing pundit and Fox News chief propagandist Sean Hannity may be one of President Donald Trump’s most reliable sycophants, but he appeared to contradict the president on Tuesday after Trump finally admitted the coronavirus pandemic will get worse before it gets better.
Hannity appeared to have an issue with Trump’s comments and responded by declaring “the situation is getting better, not worse.”
But reality always tends to disagree with Hannity. Tuesday saw more than 1,000 deaths and 65,000 new cases. The total U.S. death toll has surpassed 142,000 and the confirmed number of infections nears a staggering 4 million.
Trump for months downplayed the pandemic, defied health experts on mask-wearing (until very recently) and pushed for states and schools to reopen, even as outbreaks raged. During his first coronavirus briefing in months, however, Trump on Tuesday seemed to acknowledge the reality. He even urged people to wear face masks.
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But Hannity struck to his loyalist script by parroting his old themes.
“President Trump never stopped working,” Hannity said. “The pandemic is not spiraling out of control as they projected nightly.
“It is the worst pandemic since 1918. Losing one life is way too many. The situation is getting better, not worse.”
The host continued to attack Democrats and mainstream news outlets for criticizing Trump’s handling of the outbreak, claiming they’ve ignored positive developments like progress on a vaccine.
“And by the way, none of these people on TV and no Democrats supported the travel ban 10 days after the first identified case of coronavirus, then the subsequent travel bans and the first quarantine in over 50 years,” he said. “That alone ― huge decisions that save lives. This administration has fulfilled every request from every state governor. ”
Watch the video below, via Media Matters.
