Sean Hannity has spent years demonizing Louis Farrakhan and trying to tie him to Barack and Michelle Obama as “proof” that they are racist, black radicals. But two nights ago, Hannity was suddenly full of praise for “mesmerizing” and “unbelievable orator” Farrakhan. That just happened to occur after being told Farrakhan has praised Donald Trump.

I long ago dubbed Farrakhan as Hannity’s uber black boogeyman. Some examples of his Farrakhan race baiting:

• On February 28, 2008, Hannity tried to smear Obama as a black racist because Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s daughters gave an award to Louis Farrakhan and Obama did not denounce Farrakhan as thoroughly as Hannity thought was required. He yelled at Obama-supporter Marc Lamont Hill:

"Where is your moral courage?” Hannity interrupted, both fingers jabbing now. “Where is your moral strength and your integrity and your core values and your principles? (Farrakhan) has a history of anti-Semitism and racism and you don’t have the moral courage to condemn it and I find that reprehensible."

• On April 18, 2008, Hannity ignored Obama’s criticisms of Farrakhan while trying to smear the then-candidate as a black racist because he had attended Farrakhan’s Million Man March, 13 years earlier:

Hannity said, “We know where Farrakhan stands with the presidential election. He has publicly announced his support for Senator Barack Obama although Obama has publicly rejected Farrakhan’s endorsement. FOX News has tried to get a statement from Barack Obama’s campaign seeking further information about the Illinois senator attending the Million Man March in 1995. They have not responded. It is curious how the Illinois senator will not speak about his attendance at the march. This raises the question, just how much do we really know about Senator Barack Obama?”

• On May 14, 2008, Hannity launched what may have been his most ridiculous smear yet. He tried to make political hay out of the fact that the magazine of Wright’s church put Obama and Farrakhan on the same cover. “(Obama) goes to the Million Man March and is on the cover of a magazine with Louis Farrakhan, one of the biggest anti-Semites and racists in American history,” Hannity said accusingly to a hapless Democratic guest. “Do any of these associations bother you?”

• On April 15, 2011, Hannity tried the same ploy when a photo of Michelle Obama appeared on the cover of a magazine with a photo of Farrakhan’s wife. In an interview with Trump, in the middle of his birther campaign, Hannity suggested the two women were some kind of racist soulmates:

“If you and your wife were on or your wife was on a magazine cover with Mrs. Farrakhan, who I think is a vicious, virulent anti-Semite and racist, which Michelle Obama was on a cover with Mrs. Farrakhan, he lives two blocks away from Obama, he’s within the radical community in Chicago, is that a legitimate question?”

On April 20, 2011, Hannity tried to smear African American Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison by “asking,” “Does (Louis Farrakhan’s) Nation of Islam bother you at all?”

But Wednesday night, after the last presidential debate, Hannity sang a completely different tune. Talking Points Memo wrote:

“I’ve always wanted to meet Farrakhan,” Hannity said early Thursday morning, after commentator Larry Elder said Farrakhan “has said positive things” about Donald Trump.

“I listened to hours and hours of his speeches. He’s mesmerizing. He’s an unbelievable orator,” Hannity continued. “What he says about individual responsibility and morality and being fathers and starting businesses is brilliant. Then he adds the racism and the anti-Semitism. If you took that away, this guy could have been such a powerful force in his life, but unfortunately his legacy is one of racism and anti-Semitism.”

Watch the gushing flip-flop below, from the Hannity show’s post-debate show in the early hours of October 20, 2016, via TPMTV.

Crossposted at Newshounds.us