Sean Hannity is a conundrum. Well, actually, how to interact with a Sean Hannity seems to be a conundrum.

When he says that he wants to make America great and work for Americans, I do believe him. I don’t believe he means all Americans however, and I do believe that he means some Americans at the expense of others. Notably, those “others” might be poor people receiving government benefits, first or second-generation Muslims, anyone who thinks “Black Lives Matter,” and generally anyone who might question the libertarian/conservative view of small government and privatization. (Jeez, so  much for me being non-biased already!)

While I don’t dare believe that I know exactly what is going through Sean Hannity’s brain, I would like to use him as an example.

Here is a man that is ostensibly a patriot. He talks about loving America, he loves talking about America, and he talks lovingly about Americans. But, he doesn’t seem to allow much room for the Americans who might disagree with any of his opinions. He seems to be of a classic “with us or against us” variety.

So, let’s try to understand.

In a recent Politico interview, Hannity said this:

“Most people really don’t understand me. All I really want is my country fixed. That is all I really care about. I want our budget balanced, I want a Supreme Court that is not an extreme left court. I want our borders secure, I want healthcare choices that work for people, rather than this big top-down government failure of Obamacare. I want to see the men and women in poverty and on food stamps and out of the labor force, I want them to have the same opportunities that I have had in my life.

“The media has a bunch of overpaid, out of touch, lazy millionaires that have nothing but contempt for the people that do make this country great, I am not one of those people.”

Let’s take this line by line:

“Most people really don’t understand me.”

He may believe that people really don’t understand him and, by mentioning this, he may bely a deep wish to be understood and to be seen as a patriot who wants to fix his country. It is normal to want to be understood, and to want to be seen in the light that you see yourself in. Many of us, on different sides of the ideological divides, see ourselves as close to freedom fighters and we desperately want others to see us that way too.

“All I really want is my country fixed. That is all I really care about.”

This presupposes that 1. the country is his, and 2. it is broken to begin with. Everyone can agree that we want to fix things that are broken. It is a natural human impulse. So, when someone points out that something is broken, our hearts react and want to make it all better. Now add on top that it is a country (“my country”) and we think, of course, I want to help you fix this. Our emotions tend to act quicker than our cognitions that might ask, is this country broken? What needs to be fixed? And, whose country is it anyway?

Ask yourself these questions. Does the country belong to only one type of people? Are the things that are “wrong” with the country just differences of opinion?

“I want our budget balanced.”

Who doesn’t? We’re taught from a young age (not all of us, though) that balancing budgets is the right thing to do. As we get older, many of us begin to understand why. If we don’t plan where our money goes, it goes somewhere on it’s own. The question here is, how do we get to a balanced budget? And, how are we doing right now?

“I want a Supreme Court that is not an extreme left court.”

Ok, what about an extreme right court? How about let’s just not have any kind of “extreme” court and let’s have justices that know the constitution. Why does he have to explicitly mention “extreme left” here?

“I want our borders secure.”

Few could possibly argue against secure borders. We don’t want terrorists coming in, or criminals. But by saying that you wish for secure borders, you are telling people subliminally that the borders, as they stand, are not secure. Here the questions become: what ne’er-do-wells are getting through the border? In what numbers are they coming through? Is there such a thing as a perfectly secure border? What number of ne’er-do-well crossings is likely if we have the best possible borders? We need to answer these questions before we think about strengthening the borders.

“I want healthcare choices that work for people, rather than this big top-down government failure of Obamacare.”

Quite a loaded statement. It seems that every statement of Hannity’s relies on some presuppositions. Here, he presupposes that the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) is a failure, without letting us figure out what he thought was wrong with it and if it could be fixed rather than scrapped. Also, here again, the statement “I want healthcare choices that work for people” is impossible to argue with. But, we have to then ask what does work for the people? Which people does it work for? Who does it not work for? And why?

“I want to see the men and women in poverty and on food stamps and out of the labor force, I want them to have the same opportunities that I have had in my life.”

Great sentiment. What opportunities has Hannity had that others have not? And how could we, as a country, give those to people who have not had the same chances? How would we fund those opportunities for people?

“The media has a bunch of overpaid, out of touch, lazy millionaires that have nothing but contempt for the people that do make this country great, I am not one of those people.”

All I’m saying here is: Rupert Murdoch, Acting CEO of Fox News. (Though I do not know if he is lazy, out of touch, or harboring contempt, he certainly is an overpaid millionaire that is Sean Hannity’s boss.)

So, how am I trying to understand here? Am I just being judgmental?

This has been an attempt to understand the language one uses to rouse emotions in people rather than provide information, to get people to feel reactively rather than examine the presuppositions. Anyone can skip over questions and answers that are difficult in order to appeal to people’s emotions. Don’t we all want to fix things and care for heroes and patriots and be understood and provide opportunities for others? Of course! And by appealing to those sentiments, our opinions are often highjacked and sometimes even used against us.

Break all the questions and statements down into their presuppositions and we can begin to understand what people are trying to convince us of, and where they are trying to steer our opinions.