Fox News opinion maker Sean Hannity says he likes colleague Shepard Smith, but he’s nonetheless convinced the channel’s chief news anchor is “so anti-Trump.”
Hannity made the declaration during his radio program Monday with White House adviser Sebastian Gorka. The Fox News host described Smith as “a friend,” but someone who does not like President Donald Trump.
“I like Shep,” Hannity told Gorka, per CNN. “But he’s so anti-Trump. I mean, he went off on a rant last week.”
Hannity was explaining that the reporters and commentators at Fox News are not ideologically monolithic, and seemed to be referencing a segment from last week during which Smith accused the Trump administration of telling “lie after lie after lie” about Russia’s potential interference in the 2016 election.
The clip gained so much traction that The Washington Post dubbed the segment Smith’s “Walter Cronkite moment,” referring to a time in 1968 when the famed CBS News anchor gave a bleak report of the Vietnam War, prompting then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to say, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
Presumably, Hannity, who is a big fan of Trump, didn’t have the same opinion about his colleague. In fact, later in the show he said, “there are voices on Fox that drive me nuts,” adding that he and Smith often disagree “vehemently.”
“Like Shep and I have been friends for years, we just respect we don’t agree. And the media was praising Shep and he’s not the biggest fan of Trump, fine!” Hannity said. “We don’t talk politics when we hang out, when I see him we have the best time and we just have this mutual respect.”
It should be noted that Hannity and Smith have very different jobs. Smith, who hosts “Shepard Smith Reporting” every weekday afternoon, is tasked with delivering straight, unbiased news coverage. By contrast, Hannity hosts an eponymous evening show during which he shares his opinions about the day’s news. Both men joined the channel in 1996.
