‘Spouting Poison’: CNN’s Stelter Slams Hannity for ‘Authoritarian’ and ‘Abusive Language’; Hannity Responds

CNN’s Brian Stelter said on Reliable Sources Sunday that Fox News’ Sean Hannity is “spouting poison” on his program.

Hannity has said many times over the past few years he thinks journalism in the U.S. “is dead,” and just last week he slammed New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman following a FoxNews.com piece about her covering Donald Trump more than Joe Biden. Hannity called Haberman a “Trump stalker” and continued going after the Times the following night for its Biden coverage.

“To understand why so many Republicans have abandoned democracy, to see why so many believe the big lie, to get why so many are trying to rewrite voting rules,” Stelter said Sunday, “you have to hear the poisonous propaganda that the GOP’s activist base is listening to.”

And, he argued, “it’s coming more from Sean Hannity than from Trump right now.”

Stelter brought up some of the ways Hannity has hit Biden — including “President Sippy Cup” and “weak, frail, cognitive mess” — Democrats, and the media, particularly the “stalker” comment.

Don’t get numb to this abusive language, because it is through these insults, it is through these attacks that Hannity wields power. This dark, dire language is fundamentally authoritarian. It softens the ground for a movement like “Stop the Steal,” Trump’s ploy to actually steal the election. It portrays anyone who disagrees as not legitimate, as not American.

Hannity’s show is one of the most popular opinion shows on Fox, and a few days ago on his program, he himself remarked, “I’m honest with my audience… I give opinion, I openly say I’m a proud conservative.”

Stelter said that Hannity’s commentary goes beyond just being an opinion show and is “spouting poison.”

“Denouncing democratic norms like a free press, that’s poison.”

Hannity took to Twitter Sunday to respond to the segment:

Haha. This is awesome!!! Poison to Fake News Humpty Dumpty is the truth I reported this week that his highly promoted book “BOMBED” selling less than 1800 copies and he can’t even get 800,000 viewers to watch his socialist propaganda. Ha pic.twitter.com/3hhsq7AgTB

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 27, 2021

Humpty Dumpty sold ONLY 1,738 COPIES of his “I hate Fox News and Hannity”book. That PUT Humpty AT 4,007TH PLACE ON AMAZON.

NOW Humpty’s family is BEING ACCUSED OF "BULLYING" AND CREATING A "TOXIC ENVIRONMENT" IN The WORKPLACE.. That is the TRUE definition of poison Humpty.

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 27, 2021

You can watch above, via CNN.

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