Hannity offers rare criticism of Trump
In an infrequent moment of criticism, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, an unflinching defender of President Donald Trump, admitted that the commander in chief is “too sensitive at times.”
Conservative radio show host and Washington Post columnist Hugh Hewitt, after arguing that Trump is “President Promise Keeper,” asked Hannity: “What’s the negative? What’s the one thing that bothers you about him?”
The Fox host, who agreed with Hewitt’s assessment that Trump has kept his campaign promises so far, said that it might, in fact, be the president’s stick-to-itivness that has hurt him. Hannity said Trump is “not a perfect person.”
“The difference between Trump and, say, other politicians, … they’ll say anything to get elected,” he told Hewitt. “[Trump] just stuck to what he believed in, and maybe that’s a fault.”
Hannity added that Trump perhaps “shouldn’t tweet out every thought he has,” ultimately concluding, “Maybe he’s a little too sensitive at times, I think.”
Disapproval of the president’s Twitter behavior is not a new phenomenon.
Trump has unnerved his fellow Republicans with his tweets, his campaign staffers tried — and failed — to reign in his use of the social media platform and earlier this month Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters he wishes the president would tweet less frequently.
“I’ve been pretty candid with [Trump] and with all of you that I’m not a great fan of daily tweets,” he told reporters on Feb. 17. “What I am a fan of is what he’s actually been doing.”
McConnell went on to say he believes Trump’s actions so far have been similar to those of any other potential Republican president, again adding: “I’m not a fan of the extra discussion that he likes to engage in, but we’re gonna soldier on.”
“We like his positions,” he continued, “and we’re gonna pursue them as vigorously as we can.”
But for all of Trump’s activity on Twitter, it hasn’t actually helped the social media company’s bottom line, which has been suffering in recent years, according to NBC News.
While Trump certainly makes news on Twitter, most Americans find out about the 140-character messages via cable news, Facebook or their friends. According to Debra Williamson, an analyst with eMarketer, that’s always been Twitter’s problem.
“Everybody knows what Twitter is. But not that many people use Twitter,” she told NPR. “And they’ve been fighting that perception, which has turned mostly into a reality over the past few years.”
For what it’s worth, though, it doesn’t appear Trump will be giving up Twitter any time soon. After all, in 2012, the president said he loves Twitter because, in his words, “It’s like owning your own newspaper — without the losses.”
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