Michelle Malkin blasts the 'propaganda media'
On 'Hannity,' the columnist slams the media's thin skinned reaction to being called the enemy
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 20, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." So the alt-left propaganda media is getting worse every single day. They're now at war with you, the American people. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
President Trump is once again showing he is no longer going to put up with the out-of-control left-wing media bias. And this weekend in Florida, the president once again took direct aim at these corrupt news organizations. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FEB. 18)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The dishonest media, which has published one false story after another with no sources, even though they pretend they have them, they make them up in many cases -- they just don't want to report the truth. And they've been calling us wrong now for two years. They don't get it, but they're starting to get it, I can tell you that. They've become a big part of the problem. They are part of the corrupt system.
But despite all their lies, misrepresentations and false stories, they could not defeat us in the primaries and they could not defeat us in the general election, and we will continue to expose them for what they are. And most importantly we will continue to win, win, win!
We are not going to let the fake news tell us what to do, how to live or what to believe! We are free and independent people, and we will make our own choices!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So the alt-left propaganda media and their response? So pathetically predictable. Let's take a sneak look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
CARL BERNSTEIN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR, CNN, FEB. 19: Trump's attacks on the American press as enemies of the American people are more treacherous than Richard Nixon's attacks on the press. Nixon's attacks on the press were largely in private. There's a history of what "enemy of the people," that phrase means as used by dictators and authoritarians, including Stalin, including Hitler. And I'm not about to say anything about comparing Hitler and Trump, but it's a demagogue's statement.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN, FEB. 20: Somebody's going to get hurt. It's just a question of time because just like in every other dynamic in life, if you take somebody's who's got a legitimate reason to be upset in the first place, and you pump them up and it starts to become a call to action...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope you're wrong.
CUOMO: ... somebody's going to get hurt.
JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS, FEB. 19: As long as American democracy remains healthy, there will be reporters willing to pursue the truth, even if that means incurring the wrath of the most powerful person in the world. A free press isn't the enemy of America, it's a big part of what makes America great.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: All right, what's now obvious and so transparent is that the abusively biased press, they've now declared war on President Trump, and by the way, in turn, you, the American people who put him in office.
Now, we're seeing just how relevant, for example, WikiLeaks was. Remember? They exposed the rampant, rampant collusion between the press and the Clinton campaign. They had a literal -- they had a stake in this election. And of course, they were one-sided, abusively so.
Our suspicions have now been confirmed. All these left-wing news outlets, they thought they'd be able to stop Donald Trump from becoming president.
Just take a look at how the media laughed off the idea of Donald Trump becoming president and winning the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SETH MYERS, COMEDIAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER/APRIL 30, 2011: Donald Trump has been saying that he will run as president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN OLIVER, GUEST HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW"/COMEDY CENTRAL, AUG. 5, 2013: Do it! Look at me. Do it! I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president but which badly wants you to run!
REP. KEITH ELLISON, D-MINN., "THIS WEEK"/ABC, JULY 26, 2015: We better be ready for the fact that he may be leading the Republican ticket.
(LAUGHTER)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: I know you don't believe that, but I want to go on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry to laugh.
BILL MAHER, HOST, "REAL TIME"/HBO, JUNE 19, 2016: Which Republican candidate has the best chance of winning the general election?
ANN COULTER, AUTHOR: Of the declared ones right now? Donald Trump.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: So instead of admitting they were wrong, these media outlets, they have now doubled down on their attacks against President Trump.
Now, let me explain. Let me give a little history lesson. Remember back in 2007, 2008? The media never vetted President Barack Obama and his radical ideological left-wing agenda. They didn't talk about Frank Marshall Davis, ACORN, being an Alinsky disciple. They didn't even bother to look into a relationship with his unrepentant domestic terrorist friend, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. He was asked one time about that, and it was a question that I fed to George Stephanopoulos on my radio show. No, the media only asked about Ayers one time.
And then Reverend Wright, the church of "G-d America" -- well, the press was a year behind that, too. And they barely covered the story. And if it was Donald Trump, you know it would be different.
The media didn't want to report on Barack Obama's radical associations. We did on this program. Then Obama became president. All right, he's in there eight years. The media didn't go anywhere near his real record on the economy!
We were not afraid on this show to give you the real numbers. For example, millions more out of the labor force, millions more living in poverty, millions more on food stamps, and Obama accumulated more debt than every other president before him combined. When President Trump talks about inheriting a mess, those numbers are the ones he's referring to.
And then there's Hillary Clinton. Ah! WikiLeaks, they exposed just how in bed the media was with her. Just take a look at all the media outlets that, for example, RSVPed to the 2015 dinner allegedly at John Podesta's house. It's all the major media outlets except for Fox News.
And on election night, remember? After Donald Trump won, it was like a funeral at every one of these networks! Even Martha Raddatz, who hosted a debate, she was crying! Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS, NOV. 8: That's a pretty extraordinary thing to say, if you have a son in the Marine Corps and that you don't trust the commander-in-chief. The people in the military defend the Constitution.
LAWRENCE O'DONNNELL, MSNBC, NOV. 8: America is crying tonight. I'm not sure how much of America, but a very, very significant portion. And I mean literally crying. I've gotten texts from a college campus about a dorm that's just in tears.
VAN JONES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, NOV. 8: This was a whitelash. This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was a whitelash against a black president, in part. And that's the part where the pain comes.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC, NOV. 9: I'm still having hard time getting myself used to standing on this earth right now. This is a different earth today than it was 24 hours ago.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Martha Raddatz crying? Really? A whitelash? I guess everybody that voted for Trump is racist? That is how abusively biased the media in this country is.
So here's where we are today. Has this abusively biased media changed? Have they learned anything? Have they apologized for their collusion, their misreporting? Absolutely not. And worse, you look at what they're doing now. They're ignoring President Trump's accomplishments -- which we will go over tonight -- in 30 days. Now, they're never going to tell you, the American people, the truth. They have a clear radical left-wing agenda.
And by the way, they're also lazy. They won't report that Trump has ordered federal agencies to ease the burden of ObamaCare and seeks to repeal and replace ObamaCare, that he took action to freeze new and pending regulations. He withdrew the U.S. from TPP, like he promised. He instituted a government hiring freeze. He banned, literally, you know, some countries from getting funds that provide abortions abroad, issued five executive actions advancing Keystone and the Dakota Access pipelines, which, by the way, will create jobs and lead to energy independence. And also, he issued actions on construction of a border wall, stripping money from sanctuary cities -- all promises -- issued executive actions on extreme vetting -- he'll win that eventually -- also issued executive action on rebuilding the military.
He issued executive action to draft a plan to defeat ISIS, which should probably be in his hands today or tomorrow. He instituted a five-year lobbying ban for administration officials so he can drain the swamp. He nominated an originalist to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. He signed a House joint resolution, number 38, to help the coal industry get back into business, sanctioned Iran over their ballistic missile program, negotiated lower prices on F-35 fighter jets and Air Force One with companies like Intel -- with Boeing and others. Then, of course, he met with Intel, Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and all these other companies to incentivize them to come back into America and build jobs here. And of course, his economic plan will also help with that.
He signed executive orders to protect police officers that are under fire. He signed executive orders to target drug cartels. He launched a council for the advancement of women entrepreneurs. He called or met with over 30 foreign leaders so far. And Trump made a big announcement today by appointing Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster to be the new national security adviser.
Is anybody in the press focused on any of this? They'd rather spend their days going after the president for a comment he makes about Sweden -- which, by the way, he was right about -- and the media is perfectly willing to continue to mislead and lie to you, the American people.
It's so clear. They are collectively, the news media, at war with the president because their little egos are bruised, and they have been exposed. And they're waging this battle by focusing in on superfluous non- important issues, citing unnamed sources. And the press has called this president every name in the book. Are they inciting violence by calling him racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, a sexist, a liar, even a dictator? Because they're basically throwing around names with the hopes something may stick one day, and they go out there and report breathlessly about whatever the tweet is of the day.
But the biggest point I want to make tonight is this: The mainstream media's audience, their viewers, listeners, readers -- they are not you, the American people. They are not the forgotten men and women in poverty, on food stamps, out of the labor force, that can't buy a house. We have the lowest home ownership rate in 51 years.
It's not the oceans of red in the middle of the country. See the little slivers of blue, coastal elites? Well, that's where the media's catering to. Out-of-touch liberals know nothing about you, nothing about your problems, don't seem to care about the millions more in poverty, on food stamps and out of work, the people that are struggling. Because they're trapped, overpaid, lazy, in their bubbles and seem to care less about the plight of the average hard-working blue-collar Americans that make this country great!
That's why they didn't think that Donald Trump could win. It's why they can't for the life of them understand why he is connecting with the American people. And the American people are so happy that he's taking this corrupt, Pravda-like media on every day. Because you got an alt-left propaganda media, they have proven they can never be trusted. They lie, they mislead, they distort, and they have an agenda, a left-wing radical agenda. That's why they were colluding with Hillary.
In reality, they're modern-day propagandists. You know, other countries, we see it, you know, liberal state-run media. They are the biggest mouthpiece for the left-wing in the country. This is gross malpractice because what they're doing to you, the American people, is a great disservice. They should be ashamed of themselves.
This is exactly why the president calls them fake news, because you cannot trust them any longer. That's just a fact.
Here with reaction, the host of "Michelle Malkin Investigates" on CRTV, our friend, Michelle Malkin. You know, Michelle, I'm going to -- you know, let me put up on the screen -- let's put up, Wikileaks, for one. Let's put up all the collusion and how it exposed them. And then as I'm putting it up there, I want you to answer -- did they not learn anything from this campaign after they were laughing at the idea of a President Trump, colluding with Hillary, and then losing? They seem to have learned nothing.
MICHELLE MALKIN, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Yes, they have seemed to learn nothing, Sean. They're doubling and tripling and quadrupling down. And the propaganda media is even worse than that. These are the soiled pants media. They are still suffering from post-election indigestion.
And this weekend was really a milestone for them. There is no other industry that is more self-congratulatory and self-delusional than journalism. Well, maybe with the exception of Hollywood. And their thin- skinned reaction to being called what they are, the enemy, tells you everything you need to know about just how agenda-driven they are.
You know what they did in the echo chambers of Twitter this weekend, Sean? They spent the whole weekend tweeting about the exceptional 1 percent of American journalists who actually did their job, sacrificed their lives on the battlefield. And this was somehow representative of all the feckless Beltway journalists who are in practice nothing more than political propagandists and ideological shills for the progressive left!
HANNITY: Look at The New York Times last week. They had to reprimand a reporter that referred to -- I know is a lovely woman, Melania Trump, as a hooker. Really?
MALKIN: Yes.
HANNITY: A reprimand for that? Then of course, they tweeted out a fake Michael Flynn Twitter account. Then they -- then it gets worse -- then they tweeted out a story about a photo of Trump adviser Stephen Miller and his severed head on a stake. And all of this fake news -- I'll put some of the Federalist list up as you speak here. There's so much of it, they lie so often, but it's also deeper because it's what they choose to cover -- and for example, what Trump has accomplished in 30 days, they ignore completely.
MALKIN: Yes, that's right. Whether they are engaging as smear merchants against Stephen Miller or Melania Trump or whether they are jumping on board -- the Hollywood nutballs who are even going after Donald and Melania's son, these people have no shame! And -- and the great malpractice, the gross disservice, as you highlighted, is that all of the noise that they are creating to oppose the Trump administration is undermining what journalism is supposed to be about, which is informing the American people about the important policy decisions and the important policy advancements that are actually going on in Washington, D.C., and for which Donald Trump is responsible for.
They want to jump on the fact that he mentioned that things are going on in Sweden, when he is absolutely more right than wrong...
HANNITY: I'm going to prove that tonight.
MALKIN: ... and in fact -- right, and it is...
HANNITY: I'm going to prove it here on the program.
MALKIN: And in fact, it is the jihad-coddling American media that are the ones that have made the American people less safe by their ideological whitewashing of existential threats to America!
HANNITY: All right, Michelle, great commentary, as always. Congrats on your new TV show, as well. Thank you for being with us.
MALKIN: You bet.
HANNITY: You know, if I have one bit of advice for the White House, it's very simple. Keep your promises, and all of this noise, all of the attacks, they'll be meaningless in the end.
Up next, tonight here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: The media did not make Donald Trump and they can't destroy him!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh calling out the alt left propaganda media, Up next, we'll have more reaction to this biased press.
And also later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBY MOOK, FMR. HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: No campaign manager, no candidate should sit at a table like this on a news program and say, I don't know. The Russians might have been the reason we lost the election. It's not important whether they were or not. What's important is that it could have been the reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: There's Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager suggesting Russia could have cost her the election. OK, where's the evidence? That's coming up.
And then later tonight, Sheriff David Clarke, Larry elder -- they join to weigh in on Trump's long list of accomplishments that the media will never tell you about in one month in office.
That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIMBAUGH: The media did not make Donald Trump and they can't destroy him! But the media thinks -- and when I say media, let me define -- ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, the cadre -- they have a formula. They have a blueprint for destroying Republican political officials they don't like. It's not going to work on Trump. He doesn't fit that mold. They are trying to every day. It's kind of comical to watch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, that was conservative icon Rush Limbaugh yesterday talking about the mainstream media's attempts to sabotage the presidency of Donald Trump.
Here with reaction, from The Hill, Joe Concha, from The Washington Examiner, FOX News contributor Byron York, also the editor-in-chief of Breitbart London, Raheem Kassam.
I think Rush -- you know, Rush always (INAUDIBLE) Rush says -- Rush is right. Rush is right, is that they didn't elect him. They did everything they could do to defeat him. I worry if it becomes cumulative and if there's one little mistake -- they're throwing everything up against the wall, if he could hurt the president.
JOE CONCHA, THE HILL: I would say the president has the leverage right now, Sean, in terms of this war against the media. And I base that on numbers, not on an opinion. The Gallup survey on trust in media in September -- this is before Wikileaks that you've mentioned, so I would imagine these numbers are even worse -- 86 percent of Republicans don't trust the media. OK, we expect that. 70 of independents don't trust the media. Even half of Democrats.
So Donald Trump has the leverage right now in terms of this war. But here's the problem, I think, in terms of journalists and what they think their job is now. It used to -- do an accurate story, good investigative journalism, you get a pat on the back. Now it's all about how many times am I going to say something provocative that gets retweeted by my media brethren? And oh, maybe I can get a story in Mediaite, the holy grail, and they'll talk about me. It's all about drawing attention to themselves instead of reporting accurately. But instead, it's a race to be first instead of accurate.
HANNITY: It's like listening to a talk show host in a small market that's not getting any phone calls, and then he gets more incendiary, more incendiary, hoping someday he'll get reaction and people will call.
Byron, what's your take on this?
BYRON YORK, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, I do think there some in the media who were kind of frustrated after the campaign because it was, like, We threw everything we had against this guy and it didn't bring him down.
But I think talk about Trump attacks on the media are very exaggerated. I think, one, Trump has had a multi-decade relationship, a history of working with the press. He has a co-dependent relationship with them. Also, he has not used the power of the presidency to attack the press. I mean, if he names James Rosen as a co-conspirator in a leak case, then I think we should really worry and...
HANNITY: That's such a good point. That's such a great point.
YORK: (INAUDIBLE) the actions instead of words.
HANNITY: Actions instead of words, right.
YORK: And the last thing is, there's really been no chilling effect. There's no evidence of journalists who have been intimidated and silenced about...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... calling them liars...
YORK: In fact, it's just the opposite.
HANNITY: ... which they are, and agenda-driven and frankly, lazy. Raheem, the latest example is -- OK, you have an immigration problem all throughout Europe, specifically I have a whole pile of reports here on Sweden. And they say, Oh, did you hear the president's wrong on Sweden? The president was right about Sweden! Explain.
RAHEEM KASSAM, BREITBART LONDON: Well, the president was absolutely manifestly correct on Sweden. I was there just last week, in Rosengard (ph), in Malmo and Husby (ph) and Rinkevi (ph), the suburbs of Stockholm, and what I saw was absolutely terrifying.
I can't tell whether these journalists are now just partisan dumb-dumbs or cretinous liars or vice versa. Who knows. But the fact of the matter is they haven't been there. They haven't seen what's going on, the segregation, this lack of integration, this appeal to allowing them to ghettoize, the Swedish government effectively forcing them to do so by putting them in these housing tenements where they all live together.
HANNITY: So Trump was right.
KASSAM: He's absolutely right! There's no question about it! This isn't even a question. And you know he's right because they came out and said he was wrong within seconds of him saying this. That means they haven't looked into it. They haven't researched it.
HANNITY: So important.
KASSAM: They haven't read the books on it. It's so quick...
HANNITY: God forbid they do work. Good points, everybody. Thank you.
And up next, Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager still trying to blame Russia for her loss in the election. When is this lunacy going to stop? Please give me evidence! Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The president continues to fulfill his campaign promises. Sheriff David Clarke, Larry Elder weigh in. You probably won't see this on any other network tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So if you thought the left had finally accepted Donald Trump's massive victory, guess again. Take a look at the latest example of the left's blame game. Listen to former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. This will shock you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBY MOOK, FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I didn't bring up our campaign whether it caused our loss or not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that it did?
MOOK: I think it could have. This is the key. No campaign manager, no candidate should ever sit at a table like this on a news program and say I don't not know, the Russians might have been the reason we lost the election. It's not important whether they were or not. What is important is that it could have been the reason. And that should never happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Really? Obama tried to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu. Oh, they never talk about that.
Anyway, despite the left's attempt to blame Russia for Hillary Clinton's crushing loss, the former director of national intelligence James Clapper shot it down as a lie. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: They did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort. We had no way of gauging the impact that -- certainly the intelligence community cannot gauge the impact it had on the choices the electorate made. There's no way for us to gauge that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here now with reaction, from the Washington Times, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt, filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza. Can either one of you give me any evidence at all? Because the national director of intelligence is saying it, the HS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying. They didn't impact any machines. Is there any evidence the Russians, the Russians, the Russians, the Russians, had any impact on this election, Dinesh?
DINESH D'SOUZA, FILMMAKER: There's absolutely no evidence at all. But I actually want to just go with Mook's idea because I want to translate what he is actually saying. What is actually saying is that the Russians are sort of been like cops who broke into a car. And in the car were illegal drugs, Hillary's emails. Those drugs were then exposed to the jury and the jury said guilty. The jury here is the American people. So the American decided the election based on information allegedly provided by the Russians. And what the left is basically saying is illegal search and seizure.
HANNITY: Has anyone proven the Russians were the hackers?
D'SOUZA: Absolutely not. There's no evidence.
HANNITY: There's no evidence at all.
And I think this is the point. Number one, Charlie, Obama did spend taxpayer dollars, did send campaign operatives to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu. That's a fact. I thought we were not supposed to have outside influence of elections, but it's OK if Obama does it. Number two, Hillary had an email server in a bathroom closet. And Podesta is an idiot that fell for a phishing scheme. Tell me where the connection to the Russians are? When are we going to get that evidence because the media repeats it daily?
CHARLES HURT, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON TIMES: There's absolutely no evidence whatsoever. And what is really shocking is if you go back and you listen to the structure of the sentences of what Robby Mook said right there, Robby Mook, who, by the way, is the biggest boob in Democratic politics today. Democrats hate this guy. How he lost this election, most Democrats are scratching their heads thinking, what is wrong with this guy?
HANNITY: He had a horrible candidate and he ran a horrible campaign.
HURT: Absolutely, and failed to go out there and campaign in key states. But if you listen to what he said, it is not important whether the Russians actually did it or not. All that's important is whether they could have. What's interesting about that statement is that he doesn't even believe that there is any evidence because he does not want to talk about that. He just wants to talk about "could have."
D'SOUZA: I think the real value of this is that Mook has to put out something that the left can hold onto to say that Trump is illegitimate. They've tried everything else. Hillary won the popular vote. Let's go convince the electors to vote, and all that failed. So the only shred they hand onto now is this sort of idea that somehow it could have been rigged, the Russians could have played an illegitimate role.
HANNITY: This is important for our audience to know -- no evidence that Russians impacted the election in any way. No evidence that WikiLeaks got it from the Russians. Believe Julian Assange or not, he told me no. And in 10 years WikiLeaks has never been proven wrong.
HURT: And the really sad thing here is while Mook and all these other people are casting about these wild aspersions and accusations, they are not doing the hard work that they should be doing, which is figuring out what is wrong with their candidates, what's wrong with their party, what's wrong with their message, what's wrong with their policies that they are not able to win any elections?
HANNITY: You know what they fear the most, that Donald Trump is going to be successful. That is the greatest fear.
HURT: Absolutely.
HANNITY: But I've got to let you both go. Good to see you both. You're movie did great, by the way. Congratulations.
And up next tonight, right here on "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Who could ever disagree with that? The president talking about what he has accomplished since taking office the mainstream media will never tell you. Sheriff David Clarke, Larry Elder will join us next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY: Let us pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: First lady Melania Trump reciting the Lord's Prayer and liberals absolutely lose it. Pretty pathetic. Jerry Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham join us with reaction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I know that you want safe neighborhoods where the streets belong to families and communities, not gang members and drug dealers who are right now as I speak being thrown out of the country, and they will not be let back in. We will have strong borders again.
And by the way, we are going to be submitting in a couple of weeks he great health care plan that is going to take the place of the disaster known as Obamacare.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: It will be repealed and replaced.
I have taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So at Saturday's rally in Melbourne, Florida, the president laid out when he has accomplished during his first month in office and what he is hoping to achieve in the near future and the foundations he is laying. Joining us now with reaction, Salem nationally syndicated radio talk show host Larry Elder, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.
I say to both of you, how refreshing that you have a guy that made promises and stays on message and is laying the foundation to accomplish a lot more, and as we talked earlier, the media ignores the success. Sheriff?
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE, MILWAUKEE COUNTY: How cool is that? Leadership has returned to the White House. We haven't had it probably in 35 years or so, real leadership I'm talking about, since Ronald Reagan was there. A clearly defined vision for America, clear principles, people can understand and things that people can get behind. I think his biggest hurdle is going to be congress, that includes the GOP, because they move at a snail's pace. We've got a wall to build. We've got an economy to get going, and they're still fiddling around with Obamacare. Yet they told us they sent a bill up to former President Obama that he vetoed. Why don't they send it back up to Trump, have Trump sign it, President Trump, and veto that thing -- repeal it, and then let's get moving on the replacement.
HANNITY: I was asking -- the very same question, sheriff, I was asking Paul Ryan last week, and he said all of this will be done in 200 days.
CLARKE: Two-hundred?
(LAUGHTER)
CLARKE: They said they had a plan ready to go. That's the snail pace that Congress works at. They said they had something all ready to go. They've been saying that for the last years. Now it's going to take 200 days, that will be 300 days. The next thing you know this thing will get mired in the Congressional gridlock and nothing will happen.
HANNITY: I certainly hope not. Larry, there is a short window here.
CLARKE: I'm concerned about the pace that Congress moves at.
HANNITY: Larry, there's a short window here.
LARRY ELDER, SALEM RADIO NATIONAL SYNDICATED HOST: There really is. Every president has usually a honeymoon period. This one will not have one, but there's a period where generally speaking the other side wants to accommodate the new president. So you've got about 100 days, maybe 200 days to get stuff done. And I think it's been pretty remarkable, the first month. We've already got a nominee to the Supreme Court who is an originalist just as Donald Trump said. We've already got the travel ban issued. I know that got slapped down by the appellate court. They are going to reissue another one and they can ordinarily tailor so that it will pass court muster. He's already talking about submitting a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare sometime early in March. So I think it is extraordinary that he has done as much as he's done in just one month given the opposition of the other party and the hostility against Donald Trump by the media.
HANNITY: And build the wall, sheriff, and also make us energy independent, and his economic plan which he promises -- Ryan promised me it will all be done. There are legislative challenges. I know none of us like the pace of Washington. It is frustrating. And I think they should have had that plan ready to go on day one. They didn't, but now they're scoring it, and he thinks it will be done in March.
By the way, sheriff, I thought you were going to join the administration? Are you going to join?
CLARKE: Be patient. Just be patient, that's all I can say.
HANNITY: What is "be patient" mean? I'm a talk show host. My job is to ask questions. I think you should be there.
(LAUGHTER)
CLARKE: That's all I can say.
HANNITY: "That's all I can say." Larry, what does that sound like to you? You're a talk show host. How do you interpret that?
ELDER: I interpret that he's probably having some discussions and he's not ready to tell anybody exactly what's going on right now.
Sean, really quickly, one quick thing. Donald Trump has said that the media is enemy of the people. I don't think that that's hyperbole. When you look at "The Washington Post," in 2008 they admitted that they put more flattering stories of Obama on the front page than McCain, more flattering pictures on the front page than McCain, more positive stories about Obama than McCain. This is Deborah Howell, they admitted that they were biased, admitted they were one-sided towards Obama. So this is what Donald Trump is up against, and I thank God that finally somebody is taking on the media. It is about time.
HANNITY: Sheriff, last word.
CLARKE: Well, that's the fight that President Trump has right now. It's not just the Washington establishment. It's not just the old guard, but it's also the liberal mainstream media who is in bad, they are the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party and progressive policies. They no longer maintain their independence to be a watchdog of government. They are the echo chamber for progressive policies and I think that's sad that they have abandoned their responsibility under the First Amendment.
HANNITY: Pretty despicable, I agree with both you. All right, thank you both, good to see you.
Up next, tonight, right here on "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP: Let us pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So on Saturday, the first lady Melania Trump began the rally in Florida by reciting the Lord's Prayer. The left is going insane. Up next, we'll get reaction form Jerry Falwell Jr. and the Reverend Franklin Graham.
And later, we will play some of the messages, some I hear are not so nice, that you left for me on the "Hannity" hotline. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." So on Saturday the first lady Melania Trump, she started the president's rally by reciting the Lord's Prayer. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP: Let us pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The crowd erupted in applause when she finished the prayer reciting the prayer, but she was heavily criticized on social media and elsewhere.
Joining us now with reaction, the president of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, Jr., and from Samaritan's Purse Franklin Graham. So, first of all, I am reading comments about this. She got accused of plagiarizing by reciting the Lord's Prayer. All right, we all then are guilty for plagiarism by reciting this prayer. And they called it a dictatorship, and then some said, well, she was reading. She didn't look like she was reading. She looked like she was bowing her head to me. And I am thinking as far as I know, Reverend Graham, isn't this a Judeo-Christian country founded on Judeo-Christian principles?
REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM, SAMARITAN'S PURSE: Sean, you are right. And listen, when Melania did this, I thought to myself this is the first time in American history of politics as far as I know where the first lady stood and recited the Lord's Prayer before she introduced her husband. I thought it was tremendous.
It resonated, Sean, with not only millions of Christians here across this country but also around the world. I am talking about Christians halfway around the world that saw that. That encouraged them to think that the first lady would recite a prayer that the lord Jesus Christ gave. And here she is, reciting it before the whole world. I was so proud of her, and I just couldn't stop talking about it. I thought it was tremendous.
And so I'm proud of her. I'm as proud as I can be of our first lady. And she is such a fine person. And of course, the left is going to attack her. And Sean, they're going to do everything they can to try to beat up our president and his wife, the first lady, his children, they are going after everybody. But there are millions and millions of Christians out there that stood behind President Trump, and they are going to continue to stand behind him. And I just hope he keeps going forward, and I certainly hope the first lady is not discouraged because the left who want to try to embarrass her some way. But she did a great job, Sean, a fabulous job.
HANNITY: President Falwell, I've known you a lot of years, and I've been to the convocation when your dad ran Liberty University. I've been since you have run Liberty University. By the way, I'm not the Christian that either you or Franklin are. And your father knew it, that is why he used to call and say he was praying for me. He must have known instinctively I need a lot more help than you guys. But I thought it was a really touching, beautiful moment. And it was sincere.
And a lot of people don't know. I've met Melania. She is lovely. She's kind. She is a great mom. She's a great support to the president. English is not her first, second, third, or fourth. It's her fifth language. She is amazingly smart. And I just felt like, really, we're going to attack the 10-year-old kid and then we're going to attack Ivanka, we're attacking girls and the wife of the president. That's how desperate these people are?
JERRY FALWELL JR., LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: I thought she was so classy. It was such a classy thing to do. I agree with Franklin 100 percent. This is tradition in American history, Franklin prayed at the inauguration. I read the scripture that contains the Lord's Prayer at the private service which was right before the inauguration which has been a tradition for generations for all new presidents. And it is such a perversion of the idea of separation of church and state, what our founders meant by that, that the judicial activists have created in this century.
And I know, I live right here in Virginia, my family has lived here since before the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson's farm is a few farms over from mine. And I will tell you what he meant by separation of church and state. At that time the Virginia colony was under the British throne, and every single citizen was required to be a member of the Anglican Church and to pay tithes to the Anglican Church. The only problem with that is the king appointed the archbishop, so the king controlled the church, bought up much of the land in Virginia, and after the revolution, Thomas Jefferson was determined to never let the church be used by the state to control the people again. That's what he meant by separation of church and state.
HANNITY: Thanks for joining me. And when we come back, we need your help with tonight's very important "Question of the Day," and apparently we have some hate messages you left for me on the "Hannity" hotline. We'll play those straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And time for our "Question of the Day." So, do you think President Trump has accomplished a lot during his first month in office? As a matter of fact, why don't you give him a letter grade. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think. Now it's time to play some of the messages that you have left for me. Some I hear are not so nice. I have not heard them yet on the "Hannity" hotline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Sean Hannity, I heard you came in second place in an Eddie Munster look-alike contest. What's up with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm calling to let you know that you are a very, very intelligent man. I really like you a lot. You are so professional, and I'm hoping after eight years of Mr. Trump you decide to run for president of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to let your other guests to talk. You talk too much and you talk over them. But that's OK. I still love you, and I'm still going to watch you forever. Thanks. Bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I will try and let people finish. We have time constraints. It's hard. Eddie Munster, that was unfair. And I have no plans to run for any office. I don't think I can get elected to anything.
Anyway, if you have comments, mean, nice, doesn't matter, just call that number on the screen, 877-225-8587. All you haters out there, come one, hit me with your best shot. Whatever you want to say, call that number.
Content and Programming Copyright 2017 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.