After earning Fox News talking head Sean Hannity’s ire last week for calling him the “dumbest anchor” on the network, Wall Street Journal editor Bret Stephens slammed Hannity in a Monday column for parroting Donald Trump’s suggestion that the election will be “rigged.”
Calling the conservative commentator one of Trump’s “media munchkins” who has barely concealed his love for the businessman, Stephens called out Hannity for his recent on-air “rationalizations” in which he names-and-shames the “Establishment Republican types” he’ll blame if Trump loses in November.
While Trump has recently begun testing out the “rigged” election conspiracy theory to explain away a potential loss, Stephens wrote, “Hannity’s excuses are even more disgraceful, combining oily self-absolution with venomous obloquy for the very conservatives who have spent the year warning that a Trump candidacy is an epic GOP disaster.”
“The habit of shifting blame and refusing to take responsibility is supposed to be the curse of the underclass and its political hucksters, but Mr. Hannity is giving Al Sharpton a run for his money,” he wrote.
If Trump loses to Hillary Clinton by a wide margin, as in George McGovern’s doomed 1972 run, the WSJ opinion editor argued it will be difficult for Trump’s allies to sustain charges that they were betrayed, except among the “most cretinous” like Hannity.
The columnist also addressed Hannity’s Twitter rant, where he called Stephens a “dumbass,” over the “dumbest anchor” tweet. The anchor “can’t even swear competently,” Stephens wrote.
For now, Hannity hasn’t responded to Stephens’ latest shots fired. But if history is any guide, he likely won’t stay silent for long.
