Sean Hannity and James Carville Exemplify How to Make Cable News Segments Great Again

Do you believe in miracles?

With apologies to Al Michaels’s famous call of a classic international hockey game from yester-century (and a past Mediaite headline), the phrase came to mind after watching Sean Hannity and James Carville spend roughly 13 minutes going toe to toe Thursday night on Fox News.

It’s fair to say that Hannity and Carville represent diametrically opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, though to be fair, Carville lands closer to the center as the conservative firebrand Fox News host who enjoys incredible access and friendship with President Donald Trump. 

Why was this particular cable news segment so miraculous? Because it was a well-argued policy debate that never devolved into insults or absurd hyperbole. It was not a segment designed to offend or outrage, nor a fight over facts, truth, or the ephemeral nature of meaning itself. It was a frank and candid conversation that each participant appeared to enjoy. Both gave as good as they got, and the Fox News viewers who watched it doubtlessly walked away from it having been both educated and entertained.

It was like watching a National Geographic episode where two silverback gorillas from inimical families confront one another, but opt not to tear one another’s limbs out because they know it will lead to lower back or joint pain.

Hannity has done these sorts of interviews before, including with California Governor Gavin Newsom, but the kind of clash exemplified by Hannity and Carville’s showdown is nevertheless rare. Fox News will have the occasional progressive guest on, but rarely in a manner that engenders decent discussion. MSNBC rarely has a Republican guest or contributor, though it features a slew of former Republicans who now lead the Never Trump movement.

CNN’s Jake Tapper does an excellent job discussing policy with a broad swath of partisan guests, but it’s less relevant to this model as he presents as a moderate and consistently calls out BS from guests of all political stripes. And I feel obligated to shout out my home team NewsNation — full disclosure: I am a paid contributor — which regularly features this sort of dialogue between guests across the political spectrum.

Most cable news fodder, meanwhile, is designed to serve as outrage-inducing comfort food for its like-minded viewers (which, to be honest, completely undermines the point of comfort food, but I digress!). Watching Hannity and Carville jab and parry was not just informative, but it recalled a more gentile time when Americans could disagree without being disagreeable (Remember that?!).

Isn’t it great for us all to get out of our bubbles more? Wouldn’t it be great to watch Hannity exchange thoughts, opinions, and facts with other Democratic thought leaders? Is it difficult to find guests like Pete Buttigieg or Rep. Jamie Raskin to agree to come on his show?

I was so intrigued by this segment that I contacted both Hannity and Carville to get them to answer these questions.

“The Democratic Party is lost in a state of rage with never-ending Trump derangement,” Hannity told me in a very on-brand comment explaining why he was eager to have Carville on. “At times, James seems on the precipice of laying out a different path for them that I doubt they will follow.”

“It’s astonishing to me that a party that once wanted to eliminate waste fraud and abuse has now embraced it and is now seemingly controlled by the most radical elements of their party,” he continued. “The interesting thing to watch is whether there is any introspection and course correction in the coming year.”

That is a fair point, given the Democrats’ disastrous performance in the 2024 election cycle.

For his part, Carville was a bit more plainspoken about the segment, and admitted that while he thinks Hannity is more ideological than he is, he enjoyed the discussion and likes being on Fox News.

“Fox just makes so much money, and they can take care of their guests,” he said. “The [remote insert studio] van they sent down for my hit came all the way from Atlanta, and I like that. It’s way better than to be on a zoom and have to worry about dirty dishes in the background.”

His top-of-mind conversation turned to lauding the production quality of Fox News, sharing a story from his time teaching at Tulane in which he made his students watch every cable news network for 10 hours and take notes. “To a person, each student simply said Fox News is better TV,” he remembered.

Carville made it clear that his goal going into his appearance on Hannity was not to change minds, but to make Fox News viewers aware of salient information and arguments they may not otherwise hear. He did exactly that by making clear that domestic energy production was at a record high under former President Joe Biden, that no one added more to the federal deficit than President Donald Trump, and submitting that health care is a far more pressing issue than trans athletes competing in women’s sports.

“Men playing girls sports? No one cares,” he told me before acknowledging he is “not going to change Fox News viewers,” but “might get them to think something new.”

I suspect the same can be said for moderate or progressive viewers who caught the segment online and heard Hannity make his arguments as well. And lest anyone think I’m suggesting Carville won the debate, that’s not at all what I’m saying; Hannity deserves credit for engaging respectfully and having him on to say his piece. Both participants came out of this debate, but the real winner was the viewer.

It was good television, but more importantly, it was good for the body politic. This exception to the current rule of cable news should be an example for other networks should follow.

Watch above via Fox News.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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