Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic national convention on Wednesday night was officially preceded by a somber address from Barack Obama.
Over at Fox News, however, Harris was introduced by the rightwing network’s two biggest stars, who brought a combination of hysteria and dismay.
Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity took it in turns throughout the night – even before Harris had spoken – to accuse the vice-presidential nominee of racism, wanting to destroy the police, and general far-left chicanery.
The pair served up nearly two hours of Harris fear-mongering commentary both ahead of and during the network’s live coverage, with Hannity at one point taking the tone of a Disney film sage as he ominously warned viewers: “Do not be fooled by anything Senator Harris has to say tonight.”
Most of Fox News’s coverage of Harris’s speech was hosted by relatively neutral Fox News journalists – albeit with a panel that included someone from the Trump-fawning Townhall.com – and the pair’s attacks on Harris were largely pre-emptive.
No matter. Carlson and Hannity had prepared plenty of things for Fox News’s mostly older viewers to be angry about, and frightened of.
Carlson, who had previously deployed sexism to attack Harris, on Wednesday switched tack and decided instead to use race.
The long-running Fox News host showed a 2013 clip of Harris talking about crime and the need for “serious and severe consequences for crime”.
“That sounds racist,” Carlson said.
Carlson, 51, may have been wisecracking, but the theme continued during the show.
Amid the advertisements for muscle soreness, toe fungus and erectile dysfunction – Carlson has been dropped by scores of major advertisers due to his repeated offensive comments – he hauled on a reporter to discuss Harris’s upcoming speech.
The reporter mused that Barack Obama was likely to discuss voter suppression.
Carlson again invoked race: “Because it’s Alabama 1956, and it always is,” he said, seemingly referencing the historic efforts of civil rights activists against racial segregation in the state.
At 9pm, an hour ahead of Harris’s speech, Carlson handed over to Sean Hannity, who welcomed his viewers to “night three of the worst infomercial on earth” – a punchline Hannity has used all week.
Hannity promised his viewers that he would explore the “parallels between Clinton’s pathetic 2016 campaign and Biden’s bunker basement strategy” before vowing not to actually show much of the convention.
Within about a minute of Hannity being on air, however, it appeared he was overruled by his producers, and Fox News cut to a smiling Harris opening up the convention’s proceedings.
Harris offered a few platitudes about the importance of voting, and then introduced the night’s convention host, Kerry Washington, in what seemed like a pretty straightforward kick off to the Democratic party’s evening.
Hannity, however, saw it differently.
“No matter what she tries to sell, Kamala Harris is a radical, far-left political opportunist,” Hannity said.
As the night continued, so did the end-of-days tone.
Hannity, who has hosted his own show for 11 years, repeatedly called the Democratic convention the “worst show on earth” and labelled the Democratic nominees “the most radical ticket of any major political party”.
If the “radical ticket” line sounded familiar to viewers, it’s because, once again, Hannity has been repeating it for days, apparently having taken a liking to the term after he uttered it when Harris was announced on 11 August.
The Democratic national convention has run from 9-11pm since Monday, which eats into Hannity’s normal 9pm show. Fox News has largely ignored the first hour of the festivities, however, instead letting Hannity do his riffs about infomercials and radical tickets and the far-left.
On Thursday, when Joe Biden takes to the stage, at least Fox News viewers know what to expect beforehand.
