Fox Information host Sean Hannity claimed on Monday that Individuals are worse off now than they have been 4 years in the past. However a number of main knowledge factors show that simply isn’t true.
“[Harris] can’t run on whether or not this country is better off than we were four years ago, because—for a very simple reason—by every measure, we are far worse off,” he mentioned throughout his prime-time present “Hannity.”
On Oct. 21, 2020, precisely 4 years earlier than this episode of his present aired, the U.S. loss of life toll from COVID-19 hit 213,964 as 1,051 deaths have been added to the staggering determine in a single day. By the point Donald Trump left workplace, greater than 396,800 Individuals died from the virus.
The Trump administration’s COVID response was fully chaotic from begin to end. He initially dismissed considerations in regards to the virus and argued that it might go away when the temperature elevated. Trump went on to fume about masking insurance policies, promote medical quackery, and battle with Democratic leaders as they questioned why medical tools and protecting gear weren’t being distributed successfully (did we point out that he tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner with coordinating that bumbling, crooked effort?).
Hannity ought to bear in mind all of it, as a result of throughout that very same interval he was amongst a number of Fox Information figures who promoted ineffective medical remedies for the virus.
In contrast to Trump and Hannity, the Biden-Harris administration took the virus severely and the nationwide deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine started after Joe Biden was sworn in as president in 2021. Roughly 81% of the inhabitants has acquired at the least one dose of vaccine, whereas 70% are thought of absolutely vaccinated.
Throughout his monologue, Hannity alleged that crime has gone up throughout Biden’s time period. However in actuality, crime is down. Murders elevated almost 30% between 2019 and 2020 when Trump was president, as did the general price of violent crime. Below Biden and Harris, these charges have begun to fall. In response to knowledge collected by the FBI, violent crime declined in 2023 to the bottom stage since 1969.
Joblessness has additionally declined underneath the Biden-Harris administration. In October 2020, the U.S. unemployment price was 6.8% after reaching a peak of 14.8% in April 2020—the very best in many years. The present unemployment price is 4.1% and greater than 15 million jobs have been added since Trump—who presided over a web job loss throughout his time period—left workplace.
On October 22, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Common closed at 28,308. Simply hours earlier than Hannity’s monologue on Monday, the typical closed at 42,931, a 51.6% enhance in 4 years. The Dow, Nasdaq composite, and S&P 500 have all seen document highs in the course of the Biden-Harris administration.
Hannity’s dishonest characterization of the present state of the world is a part of a sample of habits. Below sworn testimony in 2022, Hannity admitted that he by no means believed the parable that Democrats stole the 2020 election from Trump. However on his Fox Information program, Hannity promoted conspiracy theories in regards to the election outcomes. In the end, Fox Information paid a almost $800 million settlement to Dominion Voting Methods for airing lies in regards to the firm’s purported function in election theft.
The conservative information community has lengthy operated as a propaganda arm of the Republican Celebration, continually airing falsehoods about Democrats, liberals, and social causes whereas ignoring primary factual knowledge. Whereas serving this perform on air throughout his prime-time present, Hannity has additionally been a pal and adviser to Trump and has even been known as his “shadow chief of staff” by Trump insiders.
