So I was watching Hannity's show a few weeks ago
and something really weird happened.
It was November 5th
and the show was airing from a Trump rally in Missouri.
It's election eve.
We're in the great Show-Me State.
How are we all doing?
And while Hannity's show is always rah rah Trump,
this one felt especially campaign-y.
So much is at stake.
In a few short hours... you ready?
Hannity opened the show by running through
a literal list of Trump's accomplishments,
including gems like "successful trip to Asia"
and "drafted plan to defeat ISIS."
Well, you gotta to start somewhere.
He listed the Democrats agenda if they won the midterms,
including -- of course -- open borders.
He constantly repeated the phrase
"promises made, promises kept."
Promises made, promises kept.
Promises made, promises kept."
Which, surprise surprise, was one of the GOP's midterm slogans.
Promises made, promises kept.
And he tried to put on a brave face
before the impending Blue Wave.
So what are we going to see tomorrow?
I mean, as far as I'm concerned the polls are meaningless.
They are meaningless.
The show ended with Hannity privately interviewing Trump,
in a coffin I think,
and asking hardball questions like:
"you spent three and a half billion on the border wall.
And I know you're disappointed, you want the rest."
And that was the end of the show.
But the weirdness was only beginning.
See, a few days earlier,
the Trump campaign announced that Hannity
would be appearing as a special guest during the rally.
Hannity denied that he'd appear on stage,
claiming he was only going there to interview Trump.
But a few minutes after Hannity's show finished airing...
Let's get it over with, right?
Sean Hannity, come on up.
Sean Hannity.
Promises made, promises kept.
By the way, all those people in the back are fake news.
That freaked a lot of people out,
and not just because Hannity was literally calling
other Fox News reporters in the room fake news.
Fox News issued a statement saying
they didn't condone talent participating in campaign events
and Hannity claimed the whole thing with a total surprise.
The president, I had no idea.
It was not planned.
And then... nothing.
The midterms came and went.
Hannity went back to his show and that was it.
Welcome to Hannity.
Jam packed hour.
What would have been an immediate firing
on any other network was barely a PR blip for Fox.
Because as shocking as that whole fiasco might look,
it's just the latest example in how Fox News is transforming
from a right-wing news network
into a full blown campaign operation.
You have the power to shock the world again.
Just think of what it's going to be like
to watch the corrupt media.
They will lose their minds.
I want to start off by saying this is not a video
about Fox News being too conservative.
It is normal for journalists to have political beliefs.
Hannity is obviously a right-winger and I am obviously
an antifa supersoldier.
What's not normal is for news organizations
to be directly involved in campaigns they're covering.
It's why you've never seen Rachel Maddow
give a stump speech for Democrats.
It's unethical.
Also that speech would be 45 minutes long
and never get to the point.
Not again.
As an experiment, I asked my bosses if I could speak
at a Democratic campaign rally --
that I made up because they have too much free time on my hands
-- and here's what they said.
No.
Come on.
Of course not.
Why not?
Because you're journalists.
You're not working for a campaign.
This is a pretty widely accepted rule in journalism
and it's actually one that Fox News used to follow.
In 2010, Hannity spent a week promoting his appearance
at a Tax Day Tea Party rally in Cincinnati.
Tax Day, we will be in Cincinnati.
And hopefully you can be a part of the studio audience.
But after Fox News found out the rally organizers
were using Hannity's appearance to sell tickets,
they pulled the plug.
NewsCorp.
CEO Rupert Murdoch said
"I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party."
And that was the last time Fox News pretended to give a shit.
In 2016, Hannity appeared in a bananas pro-Trump campaign ad.
And of course he's going to build that wall,
he says he's going to have Mexico pay for it.
Sean!
You shot it on an iPhone?
With a tucked in polo?
If any other journalist did that they'd be so ridiculously fired.
But Fox News did not fire Hannity.
Instead, they said they didn't know he was appearing in the ad
and promised that he wouldn't do it again.
And since then, the problem has exploded.
Hannity now regularly appears at Republican fundraising
and campaign events.
Here he is campaigning for Ted Cruz in Texas.
We need Ted Cruz now than ever.
And for Ron Desantis in Florida.
The media hates that I'm here and I'm like "too bad."
But it's not even just Hannity anymore.
Pete Hegseth, who co-hosts Fox and Friends on the weekend,
has repeatedly spoken at GOP fundraisers.
Here he is in Washington in 2017.
Keep giving.
Keep fighting.
Don't apologize for President Trump.
Here he is in Tennessee in April.
Please write a bigger check than you thought
you were going to write tonight.
He does a ton of these.
We are correct.
That's why you're a Republican.
Here's Fox host Laura Ingraham campaigning
for Republican Kelli Ward in Arizona.
Let's push her over the finish line.
Let's get it done for Kelli.
Right after Hannity got pulled on stage at that Trump rally,
another Fox host, Jeanine Pirro, also went on stage.
Get em' out to vote for Donald Trump
and all the people who are running for the Republican Party.
Pirro has bragged about speaking at GOP fundraisers on TV.
Last night, I was in Morgantown, West Virginia
where I gave a speech at the annual Republican Reagan Dinner.
She's a constant fixture at GOP fundraisers across the country.
God, you gotta love that sorority pose, though.
I'm getting away with it!
The problem goes deeper
than Fox hosts appearing at these events.
These campaigns are now slowly infecting
Fox News programming.
Before Hannity went onstage at that Trump rally,
he went district by district attacking individual Democrats.
Liberal radical leftist incumbent Claire McCaskill.
Radical leftist Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
Democratic do-nothing Schumer Democrat Bill Nelson.
While endorsing Republican candidates.
American hero Martha McSally.
Bob Hugin.
Marine.
Semper Fi, Bob.
Ted Cruz needs to be back in the U.S. Senate.
It wasn't the first time he'd done that.
Hannity had been running that segment for days
before the midterms.
We will point out 10 key races a night.
So you know if it's your district that matters.
Republican Mark Harris, he needs your help.
We need that seat to stay Republican.
And again, it's not just Hannity.
If you call yourself a conservative and a Republican,
it's actually immoral not to vote for Donald Trump.
Vote for the America that is great again.
And the more comfortable Fox has gotten with campaigning,
the more GOP candidates are relying on Fox
as part of their campaign strategies.
Look at this softball interview Hannity did
with GOP candidate Karin Housley in October.
Karin Housley is with us.
Karin, let's talk about Keith Ellison and the double standard.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for having me, Sean.
What the-
That is not a question.
That is a campaign stop.
And Housley knew it.
She immediately repackaged that interview into a campaign ad.
You can win this race.
I believe tha-
Lots of Republicans do this now.
Clip Hannity's softball coverage and
repackage it for their campaign.
A former police chief, Eddie Edwards.
I'm with the police chief tonight.
Republican challenger Wendy Rogers,
in a district that President Trump only carried by one point.
By the way good luck in your run for governor down in South Carolina.
I have a lot of friends down there.
It's become cliche to mock Fox News as Trump TV
or state propaganda.
But what's happened over the past few years
goes way beyond ideology.
Congressman Desantis joins us now.
Full disclosure, I did do town halls with him.
And I endorsed you and I don't regret it.
Fox News is quietly allowing itself to evolve into a massive,
highly influential get-out-the-vote operation.
Congressman Desantis, congratulations.
I remember you and I talking after we did that debate on Fox News
and you were like
"you're not going to be behind much longer after this."
And sure enough, I mean, we really pulled ahead.
The problem isn’t that Hannity got on stage at a campaign event.
It's that Fox News is the campaign event.
One that's becoming deeply embedded in the GOP's strategy
for winning elections from here on out.
So let me get this straight.
You got an e-mail from Celine Dion's presidential campaign
and they want you to speak at a rally.
At Panera Bread, yes.
Carlos!