Fox News presenter Sean Hannity spent President Donald Trump’s office last night lashing out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and calling for McConnell to be replaced as the Republican Senate leader after the Kentucky Senator Trump had called for provoking a rebellious mob.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell blamed the president and “other powerful people” for instigating the Capitol riots, saying the “crowd was fed lies” about the election that had been “stolen” from Trump through unfounded allegations. of widespread voter fraud. . In addition to the president, McConnell appeared to be sending a direct message to members of his caucus, most notably Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), who spearheaded the bid to block the election of President-elect Joe Biden from victory.
Hannity, a close confidant and adviser to Trump, started his show by sharing a White House document mentioning “1,000 Trump achievements,” urging his audience that “there is real, real performance. “
From there, Hannity dedicated much of the rest of his opening monologue to McConnell for not being loyal enough to the outgoing president, who currently has record-low approval scores for inciting an incendiary crowd to storm the Capitol to stop Congress . certifying the election of Biden.
“Now that future minority leader Mitch McConnell and a handful of other established Republicans are trying to reassert control of the GOP, and their playbook is unfortunately all too predictable,” Hannity growled. “Rather than taking up the mantle and promoting the president’s America First agenda, they cower in fear and wither under the pressure of the media mob, liberal Democrats and big tech companies.”
After claiming again that the president was doing nothing to incite the MAGA crowd, he claimed that Trump was merely “ urging his followers to march peacefully and patriotic to the Capitol so their voices could be heard, ” the host growled. of Fox News that McConnell and others “Established Republicans” were “backbone” for condemning the president.
“Establishment Republicans have no backbone, no principle, no courage, no vision,” he said. “Too many politicians in DC are just way too willing to go along, get along and protect the swamp, and that’s why conservatives like me are tired of these empty promises and your rehearsed speeches and never get anything done.”
Hannity, who previously called on Senate Republicans to reject the “madness of impeachment” and not participate in the Senate process, then called for new GOP leadership.
“We need new leadership in the US Senate,” he said angrily. “You can represent the people of Kentucky. You are actually showing now that you are the king of the established Republicans who have, frankly, always held and continue to disdain President Trump, but more importantly, the 75 million Americans who voted for him. “
Interestingly, while Hannity has railed against the Republican Party for not having Trump’s back, he didn’t seem overly excited about the potential of a Trump-led independent political party.
“If you go back to 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a speech, famously called ‘The Time for Choosing,’” he said. He rhetorically posed the question: Is it a third party that the Republican party needs? And he concluded no. He said we need a revived second party with no bull, bold colors and no pale pastels. “