On Sunday, CNN host Brian Stelter accused conservative pundit Sean Hannity of using “authoritarian” rhetoric on his Fox News show.
Stelter made his remarks during his program “Reliable Sources.”
In Hannity-speak, reporters are "stalkers." Cities are "hell holes." His rhetoric is fundamentally authoritarian. pic.twitter.com/up6wEZR4e1
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 27, 2021
RELATED: CNN’s Van Jones Says Derek Chauvin Being Sentenced To 22 Years Was A ‘Punch In The Gut’
Stelter On Hannity’s Rhetoric: ‘This Dark, Dire Language Is Fundamentally Authoritarian’
Stelter said, “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, you have to hear the poisonous propaganda that the GOP’s activist base is listening to. You have to really hear it.”
The CNN host then added, “It’s coming more from Sean Hannity than from Trump right now.”
“On Hannity’s show, President Biden is president sippy cup,” Stelter continued. “Biden is a weak, frail, cognitive mess, Hannity says.”
Stelter kept piling on Hannity.
“Yet, the Democratic Party is portrayed as an existential threat,” Stelter said. “Hannity calls it the Green New Deal Socialist Party, and he labels some Dems extremists. He calls American cities hell-holes. He sometimes calls them Democratic-run hell holes. He says the media is a mob and stalkers.”
Stelter then said to his viewers, “Don’t get numb to this abusive language because it is through these insults. It is through these attacks that Hannity yields power.”
“This dark, dire language is fundamentally authoritarian,” the CNN personality insisted.
"Don't get numb to this abusive language. Because it is through this language, it is through these insults, through these attacks that Hannity wields power," Stelter warned viewers. https://t.co/I5Xc4aPmL2
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 27, 2021
Stelter: You Listen To ‘Enough Of This Filth And You Live In Fear And Disgust’
Stelter than accused Hannity of being anti-American.
Stelter said, “It softens the ground for movements like Stop the Steal, Trump’s ploy it actually steals the election. It portrays anyone who disagrees as not legitimate, as not American.”
He added, “Hannity is spouting poison, denouncing democratic norms like a free press. That’s poison. Corrosion of public discourse is poisonous.”
Referring to News Corp-Fox News tycoon, Rupert Murdoch, Stelter continued, “The Murdochs let it happen every day, and it radicalizes people. People like Hannity’s colleague Tucker Carlson who is out there calling the Joint Chief Chairman a stupid pig.”
“It’s destructive,” he claimed.
“You listening to enough of this filth and you live in fear and disgust, and you might stop at nothing to save America,” Stelter said. “That’s what the signs at Trump’s rallies say, Save America but do they even know what they’re trying to save anymore?”
“Do they even know the real America?” Stelter finished.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”