Somehow past presidents have managed to get through Super Bowl interviews without spending most of their time ridiculing people they don’t like.
Ronald Reagan didn’t spend time dissing Walter Mondale.
Barack Obama didn’t ridicule Mitt Romney.
But Donald Trump, urged on by his favorite right-wing commentator Sean Hannity, couldn’t help himself.
Fox executives had wanted to showcase their much-touted “news” side, they could have put forward someone like anchor Chris Wallace, who has occasionally made news for challenging interviews with Trump officials.
Instead, they picked Hannity, who is so sympathetic to Trump that he effectively functions as a White House spokesperson.
Their conversation was less of an interview and more of an opportunity for Trump to attack against his enemies unchecked for over eight minutes.
Trump railed against Democrats who impeached him, making bizarrely incorrect claims about the 2020 Democratic presidential field, and even making height jokes about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
When asked about whether he’d be able to work with Democrats following his impeachment, Trump replied he wasn’t sure, saying, “I see the hatred — they don’t care about fairness, they don’t care about lying,” a statement that could not be heavier with irony given Trump’s own well documented difficult relationship with the truth.
Hannity nodded in agreement, as Trump went on, saying, “the whole thing was nonsense,” that is was “very, very unfair,” and that “my family suffered because of all this, and many other families suffered also.”
He did not address his role in pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political rivals, or the White House’s refusal to cooperate in the impeachment inquiry.
In a “lightening round”, in which Hannity encouraged Trump to say the first thing that came to mind, he attacked Democratic presidential candidates.
“Look at Sleepy Joe, what’s going on with him? He’s having a hard time,” Trump said of former Vice President Joe Biden.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, he accused of being a liar, saying, “I call her ‘Fairy Tale’ because everything’s a fairy tale … this woman can’t tell the truth.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Trump claimed, is a “communist” who got married in Russia.
The claim prompted Hannity’s only attempt to correct the president; the Fox News personality reminded the president that the candidate actually took a trip to the then-Soviet Union shortly after his marriage, and that he wasn’t married there.
Trump had perhaps his harshest words for Bloomberg.
He again criticized the DNC in speaking of Bloomberg, arguing it was unfair the party changed the debate rules in a manner that seems to benefit the mayor, before attacking Bloomberg for being short. (Bloomberg is about 5’8”).
“He wants a box for the debates,” Trump said. “Does that mean everyone else gets a box?”
Bloomberg’s campaign responded with a statement that reads: “The president is lying. He is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan.”
The president did make some positive statements — about himself.
This marks the first time Trump has been able to deliver statements about his opponents unchecked before such a large and diverse audience — everyone watches the Super Bowl, not just Trump fans or journalists.
It is disturbing the President of the United States was given almost ten minutes to address the nation, and spent it not answering pressing questions of national concern, but attacking his rivals in incredibly petty ways.
Fox’s message is clear: When the stakes are highest and the spotlight is brightest, the network produces right-wing propaganda, not journalism.