Civil War, Hannity-style
If Sean Hannity wants a civil war, he’s welcome to have one. He ranted on his radio program that, if Mueller indicts Trump, “[Mueller] is going to ignite a battle that we’ve not seen in this country before.” Hannity was talking directly to his white supremacist base when he called the Special Counsel “pompous…arrogant…power hungry and corrupt.”
Wow. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I suppose Rupert Murdoch believes a civil war will be good for Fox’s ratings.
I wonder just how Hannity expects his “civil war” to unfold. Let’s assume for the moment (a wonderful assumption!) that Mueller levels criminal charges against Trump for, say, obstruction of justice, which is an impeachable offense. You would have roughly one-third of the country furious about that; Trump’s ringleaders, including Hannity, Alex Jones, Wayne LaPierre and the evangelist rabble-rouser, Franklin Graham, would egg their credulous listeners on with charges of “deep state,” “Crooked Hillary” and “rogue F.B.I.” There would be fire and fury across the Right; the survivalist-neo-nazi types would stock up on canned foods and dust off their camo clothes.
And then what would happen? Nothing. Some paintball games in the woods, some meetings, lots of theats on social media. I mean, what is the Right actually going to do, form illegal militias and storm state capitols? In their dreams. Within weeks, I predict, their little movement will run out of steam.
Because an indictment, after all, would not be the end of the story. In itself, an indictment means nothing. The only thing that would really mean anything is for impeachment hearings to begin in the House Judiciary Committee—a distinct possibility less than a year from now, when Democrats retake the Lower House (and possibly the Upper House as well).
Hearings would take weeks, at least; during that time, the neo-nazis likely would cool their heels (along with the rest of us), to see how things develop. The Judiciary Committee could vote not to adopt Articles of Impeachment against Trump, in which case the entire affair would fade away. Even if they voted for one or more Articles, the case would then have to be turned over to the Senate, for trial. And, as we’ve seen in our history, the Senate has never voted to convict and remove from office the only two Presidents who have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. There’s thus very little reason for the Right to overly-worry about the fate of their President.
Even if Trump manages to escape the hangman’s noose, the damage to his credibility will be profound. The media will not stop asking how he can govern with such a black cloud of embarrassment hanging over his head. His reputation will be tainted as the man who “got away” with colluding with the Russians. His presidency will forever be marked by an asterisk: “elected with the help of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.” It’s difficult to imagine how he could get anything accomplished; harder still to imagine him getting re-elected in 2020.
So I’m not taking this nonsense about a “civil war” seriously. Hannity is just being the jerk that he is: throwing red meat to the Pabst Blue Ribbon-guzzling ammosexuals who listen to him. We should treat these people like the immature men-children they are: let them throw their tantrums, let them do a little shooting to get it out of their systems, let them brood and whine all they want. It’s all sound and fury signifying nothing. What I am concerned with, and have been for some time, is that Trump’s flouting of the law will mushroom into an authoritarian regime that will be resisted by Democrats, but not by Republicans. The Trump family is mad for two things: money and power. Our democracy is fragile. As we’ve seen in countries as different as the Philippines, Turkey and Russia, one-man rule seems to be making a resurgence around the world. Donald J. Trump sees the same thing. “What rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
Have a lovely weekend!
” Hannity was talking directly to his white supremacist base when he called the Special Counsel “pompous…arrogant…power hungry and corrupt.””
I think he must have been talking about Trump. None of those words describe Mueller.
Bob, you’re right. Which makes his remarks beyond ironic.