The Republican civil war spilled into Sean Hannity’s Twitter feed yesterday after he and Senator Ted Cruz went at each other over delegates – and Cruz and his supporters attacked Hannity for being a Trumpster.
On his radio show yesterday, Media Matters caught the following exchange between Hannity and Cruz (which I lightly edited):
SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I think the number one question on the minds of Republicans right now is what is going on with the delegates. For example, if you can explain to people that your campaign, that you have every right within the rules, to talk to candidates that are pledged on a first ballot, to Candidate A or Candidate C, you being Candidate B, and that—tell us what that process is. You are assuming this is going to the convention, you told me that in the last two interviews. So as part of that, you’re hoping to get to a second ballot. In other words, in a second ballot, people that support Donald Trump or John Kasich or Marco Rubio, if those delegates are still relevant, can then switch their votes. So you are in the process of talking to delegates and it seems to be very extensive. Can you explain to people what’s going on?
TED CRUZ: Sean, with all respect, that’s not what people are concerned about. I’m campaigning every day, people are concerned about bringing jobs back to America. People are concerned about raising wages. People are concerned about getting the federal government off the backs of small businesses, and people are concerned about beating Hillary. And the media loves to obsess about process, this process, and this whining from the Trump campaign, is all silly. It’s very, very simple –
Hannity, probably correctly, said that his audience on social media, radio and television are interested.
HANNITY: It’s more than a process question. It’s an integrity of the election question, and everybody’s asking me this question. So I’m giving you an opportunity to explain it.
CRUZ: Sean, the only people asking this question are the hardcore Donald Trump supporters.
HANNITY: Why do you—but Senator, why do you do this? Every single time I—no, you gotta stop. Every time I have you on the air, and I ask a legitimate question, you try to throw this in my face. I’m getting sick of it. I’ve had you on more than any other candidate, on radio and TV. So if I ask you, Senator, a legitimate question that would explain to the audience, why wouldn’t you just answer it?
Whether or not Cruz whines about this “every time” he’s on with Hannity, the fact is that Hannity is blatantly in the tank for Trump. Hannity continues to deny it but Cruz supporters are not fooled.
The tension between Hannity and Cruz continued:
CRUZ: Sean, can I answer your question without being interrupted?
HANNITY: Go ahead.
CRUZ: In the last three weeks, there have been five elections in five states. Utah, North Dakota, WIsconsin, Colorado, Wyoming. We’ve won all five, over 1.3 million people voted in those five states. We won all five. All of this noise and complaining and whining has come from the Trump campaign because they don’t like the fact that they’ve lost five elections in a row, that Republicans are uniting behind our campaign, so they’re screaming on Drudge, and it’s getting echoed, this notion of voterless election. It is nonsense that they are making it up. Over 1.3 million people voted. We won landslides in all five. Now, there is a second component beyond the elections, which is the individual delegates are elected by the people. Donald Trump’s campaign does not know how to organize on the grassroots.
Afterward, Hannity faced a Twitter storm of complaints that he did not take well. At the end, he announced he’s going on a Twitter “hiatus.” Which has, apparently, ended.
Crossposted at Newshounds.us
