Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night bemoaned the near-consensus among the political media that Donald Trump lost the first presidential debate to Hillary Clinton. The verdict, Hannity said, demonstrated "just how out of touch . . . the mainstream media is with you, the American people."
Hannity cited a handful of online polls — among the estimated 70 manipulated by the Republican presidential nominee's vast 4chan coalition — and diagnosed a divide in world view between the "elite" media and the average American.
"My overpaid friends in the media — they have their chauffeur-driven limousines," he said. "They like their fine steak houses and expensive wine lifestyles. None of them are feeling [the negative impacts of President Obama's policies] — the people you're watching on TV."
The About page on Hannity's website describes him as "a multimedia superstar, spending four hours a day every day reaching out to millions of Americans on radio, television and internet." Assuming he's read through it, he knows he's among "the people you're watching on TV."
Of course, Hannity, who earned $29 million in 2015, according to Forbes' list of the 100 most-compensated celebrities, on which he ranks a modest No. 89 — has little to no ground to stand on, as his brushes with sympathy for the middle class are tertiary at best.
After his dinner at a Washington, D.C., Ruth's Chris Steak House with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Sen. Ted Cruz, and "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson in 2014, Hannity watched as Robertson picked up the $5,000 check and gave a 100 percent tip.
On Tuesday night, Hannity pointed to murder statistics in Obama's adopted home city of Chicago and feigned interest in the well-being of black people, arguing that the current administration "failed the African-American community."
"The media doesn't care about these facts," he added. "They just want the vote every four years of black Americans, and the Democratic party demonizes Republicans and calls them racist."
In July, on his radio show, however, Hannity sounded largely apathetic when he said that the Black Lives Matter movement's "advancing narrative is killing cops, and Hillary wants their endorsement."
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