Hannity: ‘A Soft Coup Is Underway’ in the United States

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” host Sean Hannity warned a “soft coup” was underway in the country as forces in the “deep state,” the Democratic Party and the media are trying to overturn the results of last November’s election.

In his opening monologue segment, Hannity said the turmoil in national politics was “creating a very clear, present danger to the country” and he pointed to all the signs of what he described to be “Trump derangement syndrome.”

Transcript as follows:

HANNITY: A soft coup is underway right here in the United States of America in an attempt to overturn November’s election results and forcibly remove a duly elected president from office, sinister forces quickly aligning in what is becoming now, in my mind, a clear and present danger. That is tonight’s very “Opening Monologue.”

All right, so if you’re in America, we’re at a turning point tonight with forces now forming an alliance to try and remove President Trump from office. It’s that serious.

Now, here are the five dangers we are facing, especially the president. One, you’ve got the destroy Trump media that has been lying to you now, provable lies for 11 months nonstop, Trump-Russia collusion. Black helicopter theories, no evidence whatsoever.

Two, you’ve got what I’ve been calling the deep state selectively leaking information to damage the president and anyone associated with him.

Three, special counsel Mueller’s investigation mission creep I’ve been telling you about. Well, it’s now turned into an out-of-control what is a political witch hunt. It needs to be stopped.

Four, all this manufactured turmoil putting President Trump’s agenda in jeopardy, which ends up directly impacting every one of you out there, the American people.

And five, this effort to override the will of the American people, change the results of a presidential election is now creating a national security crisis. America is now suffering from a massive informational crisis because, I call them the destroy Trump media, has routinely been exposed now, agenda-driven propagandists more than happy to push debunked tinfoil hat conspiracy theories.

For example, the media relentlessly peddling one of the biggest lies in American history, that is that the president colluded with the Russians. Now, that’s because members of the media are nothing more than left-wing ideologues pretending to be journalists.

Remember, they’re the ones that colluded with Hillary Clinton, exposed by Wikileaks in the 2016 election. The media has one clear shared goal in mind, and that is to damage, stop and destroy Trump’s presidency, sadly, it appears, by any means necessary.

We have been highlighting right here on this program night after night just how unhinged these people have become. And they don’t care about facts. Obviously, they don’t care about the truth, which is why The Washington Post, The New York Times, ABC, NBC, CNN all exposed as having gotten their reporting wrong. But the destroy Trump media, they’re not the only ones whose collusion narrative, by the way, has completely crumbled.

Take a list (sic) at the long list of Democrats admitting no evidence of collusion, zero, zip! Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, the allegation, of course, is that the Russians and the hacking and dumping of documents in the election had essentially relationships with Trump campaign people, but I’m not prepared to say that there’s proof you could take to a jury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you agree with this conclusion that the president has reached that there was no evidence of collusion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we haven’t seen any of that whatsoever, George. We’ve been looking and showing (ph) everything that they possibly have. That has not led to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The next threat, and perhaps the most dangerous, the deep state. That is the unelected what I call the fourth branch of government, consisting of a lot of Obama holdovers, anti-Trump bureaucrats who now are routinely targeting the president, his administration with selective leaking to hurt him.

Now, this deep state works closely with the destroy Trump media to disseminate false information about the president and his administration. And what’s even more dangerous, more sinister about the deep state is that they’re willing to break the law, leaking classified information like in the case of General Flynn.

Then you have the former FBI director, James Comey, admitting under oath he had his memo leaked to The New York Times. He had a goal. He wanted the appointment of a special counsel. And a prime example is the unmasking of General Flynn. That was a violation of the Espionage Act. That’s a crime. That’s a felony, by the way. And then Flynn’s 4th Amendment rights, by the way, totally trampled on. You’ve heard nothing about it. There’s no investigation there. Why? Again, the deep state — they don’t care. They’re only concerned with taking down President Trump and President Trump’s associates.

Then you’ve got number three, the special counsel. Look at Mueller’s investigation mission creep. Remember? President Trump has called this the greatest political witch hunt in American history? Well, I’m here to tell you the president is right. Mueller’s sole purpose was to investigate so-called Trump-Russia collusion, but Mueller is now expanding that investigation, and he’s digging into finances and Jared Kushner and obstruction of justice. And guess what? He’s not going to stop there. Why? Because there is no Trump-Russia collusion, so he has to move on to other things.

And I’ll tell you what’s most alarming about this. Mueller is having massive conflicts of interest. He should recuse himself. He’s incapable of carrying out a fair and impartial investigation.

Now, Mueller needs to end this witch hunt right now. He’s best friends with James Comey. The two have been best friends for a long time. And who do you think Mueller is going to side with when it comes to the president and his word versus James Comey’s word? That’s pretty obvious, pretty unfair.

And then there’s the fact that members of Mueller’s investigative team, the lawyers he’s hiring — they’ve all, many of them donated big, big bucks to, let’s see, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton. And on top of that, perhaps most sinister, one of the lawyers Mueller has hired actually was Clinton’s attorney at the Clinton Foundation, defending the Clinton Foundation against getting you information and preventing Freedom of Information Act requests!

Oh, isn’t that great about the foundation? Now, imagine for a second — just stand back — if Republicans ever tried to pull anything like this? You know, Let’s hire Donald Trump’s lawyer to investigate President Hillary Clinton. The left-wing outrage would be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

If Mueller wants to investigate actual crimes, actual collusion, by the way, a real conspiracy Donald Trump (sic) or real conspiracy with Russia, maybe he should focus attention on other things. Let’s start with Loretta Lynch. Let’s start with the Clintons. James Comey testified that Lynch influenced his investigation into Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server. Is that not that textbook definition of obstruction of justice?

And if Democrats and the media want to talk about collusion, well, we can talk about collusion. You know, was it wrong for Loretta Lynch to meet Bill Clinton on the tarmac or to convince James Comey not to say investigation, but a matter? Or as Sara Carter and John Solomon have reported, was it wrong when she reported that Comey confronted her as having been in the tank for Hillary all along and put the kibosh on any indictment?

What about when serving as secretary of state? Hillary Clinton handed over 20 percent of America’s uranium to who? Oh, Vladimir Putin, the Russians, the corrupt Uranium One deal! And while people involved in that deal donating, kicking back big dollars, millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, her husband doubling his speaking fees in Moscow.

All this manufactured turmoil from the left, the Democrats, destroy Trump media, the deep state is creating a completely dysfunctional environment in Washington and for the country.

And you, the American people — you’re the ones suffering because these forces are slowing down what you voted for, a president enacting the agenda he promised, means fewer jobs, less economic growth, no border wall, no tax reform, no repealing, replacing “Obama care,” no getting people out of poverty, off of food stamps, back in the labor force, buying homes at a 51- year low.

The longer these attacks continue, the longer it will take for you, the American people, to benefit from what from what you voted for, the president’s policies and agenda. And all of this is now creating a very clear, present danger to the country. The left is suffering well beyond Trump derangement syndrome. It’s completely unhinged.

Look at how vile some of their rhetoric has been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADONNA, SINGER: Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House!

PROTESTER: Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon! Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon!

BARACK OBAMA, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I’ll put Mr. Burgess (ph) up against Sean Hannity. He’ll tear him up.

JOSEPH BIDEN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The press always asks me, Don’t I wish I were debating him? No, I wish we were in high school, could take him behind the gym!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the more most accurate football metaphor might have been the GOP just kicked America in the balls. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is a weird tension. I think what’s a dangerous time for the 1st Amendment and for the free press in his country and at the same time, we’re oddly influential with the guy who wants to kill us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare he say that to the crowd? How dare he say the things he does? Of course I want to punch him in the face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You want to punch the president in the face and Madonna dreaming of blowing of the White House. Now, think about this. Now we have severed heads, Trump look-alikes in an ISIS pose. Now we have assassination lists in Alexandria, Virginia, and Republicans targeted for assassination. You don’t think that’s insanity?

You don’t think the left, their deranged hate and rhetoric — you don’t think that this could ever be reconciled with, for example, some of the actions that’s happening here. This is now reaching a point of no return. It’s beyond serious. If these forces are successful, this country will not survive. If they continue with lies, propaganda, misinformation and outright conspiracy theories, where do the people go to get their country back?

And why don’t they go after the people that we know committed actual crimes? Why aren’t they investigating Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton, the deep state, the leaks that have been coming out, all illegal? Why are they going after only President Trump?

Now, by the way, just so you know, this isn’t about just President Trump. This isn’t about just people around the president. This is more deeply about you, the American people. You know, it’s a big middle finger right in your face. You know, these people don’t care about you, Mueller, Rosenstein, Comey, deep state, destroy Trump media, weak Republicans. They aren’t acting on your behalf. They don’t seem to care how all of this is impacting you, your families, those of you out of work, in poverty, you know, on food stamps, those of you out of the labor force, 95 million of you.

You know what? They think they’re smarter than you. They know better than you. It’s not about you to them. It’s not about what you want. This is about what they want.

If you’re sick and tired of it, I think you should let your congressmen and women know. I think you should look at the media tonight and ask, Are they telling you the truth anymore?

We’re at a turning point. You, the American people, have a profound choice to make here. You can let this continue to happen, watch the country descend into chaos, you can sit back, or you can stand up and fight for what you voted for back in November and the agenda that you want implemented in this country.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor