- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 40,050
https://twitter.com/ThomasEWoods/status/1684669120724307969
Sean Hannity vs. man with brain
https://mailchi.mp/tomwoods/dore-324921
Tom Woods
So much that's wrong with American conservatism is summed up in Sean Hannity.
The man has no curiosity. He rarely if ever follows an issue all the way down to the root. He's happy to remain on the superficial surface, where he can score points against "the Democrats."
(It's entirely noble to score points against the Democrats, but much of what Hannity criticizes can be found also among Republicans, where he is mute.)
When I appeared on television with him in the middle of promoting The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, I was flabbergasted to learn that he had never before heard it said that the New Deal had made the economy worse than it would otherwise have been. So he knew nothing of the history of his own movement, which is filled with critics of FDR who made these very arguments.
So when I saw that he had recently interviewed RFK, Jr., I knew he must have come out second best. I correctly predicted that he would show up with standard talking points, and RFK would know the actual story.
When it came to Ukraine, it was the usual "I think Putin is a bad guy; why do you trust him?" nonsense that would insult a second grader.
RFK, Jr., explained that key American diplomats -- including George Kennan, the author of the containment strategy during the Cold War and one of the most celebrated American foreign-policy analysts -- urged against the ongoing expansion of NATO, which contradicted assurances that were made to Russia in the early 1990s.
Ivermectin came up and Hannity said he'd never seen a study attesting to its effectiveness. RFK said that's because the media don't report on them, and then referred the audience to Yale's Harvey Risch. Suddenly, it was time for a commercial break.
But I especially liked the part when they discussed the Covid lockdowns and Hannity tried to make excuses. RFK was having none of it:
RFK, Jr.: Lockdowns were the final straw.... We created a billionaire a day -- this was Trump and Biden and 500 days of lockdowns. We created a billionaire a day. We moved $4 trillion from the American middle class to the super rich. We built the people who came into the lockdown with 30 with $1 billion increase their wealth on average by 30%. We closed 3.3 million businesses.
Hannity: In retrospect -- and I get for a period of time in the early days, nobody knew what the hell they were dealing with. Let's be fair.
RFK, Jr.: I'm not going to be fair.
That's the spirit we need, honestly. No more benefit of the doubt.
