The Russia Ruse

The critique on cable television was blistering.

“Let’s be clear: The so-called summit with Vladimir Putin did absolutely nothing to advance any American interests in any way. That’s a fact. Instead, Vladimir received a massive platform in exchange for zero concessions whatsoever and then Putin used that platform to take shot after shot after shot at our country, the United States of America.”

“And what do we get in return for this grand gesture that will enrich Vladimir Putin and Russia? Nothing. We got nothing. Appeasement doesn’t work, has never worked, never will work.”

That wasn’t Rachel Maddow or Mehdi Hasan discussing Donald Trump’s meeting with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. That was Sean Hannity in 2021, railing against then-President Joe Biden after his meeting with the autocrat in Geneva. Hannity went on to (accurately) describe Putin as a “killer,” a “thug,” and say he’s “frankly evil.”

On Friday, Trump held his own high-stakes meeting with Putin, literally rolling out the red carpet and applauding the Russian dictator on U.S. soil. The talks ended with no deal, no concessions from Russia, and no plan to end the bloody war in Ukraine that Putin appears hellbent on waging.

Following the meeting, Fox News’ senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich offered a blunt assessment of the Trump-Putin “press conference,” during which reporters were not allowed to ask questions. “The way that it felt in the room was not good,” she said. “It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled, got right into what he wanted to say. And got his photo next to the president and then left.”

And yet, for Fox News viewers who continued to watch the network afterward, you would have thought Trump had just signed the Camp David Accords, with Hannity and other pro-Trump mouthpieces spinning the president’s flop into a foreign policy triumph.

“Mr. President, it’s a historic day and I know that Americans—I think this transcends political ideology,” Hannity gushed to Trump in a friendly one-on-one interview immediately after. Kellyanne Conway was equally effusive: “Look, everything came up Trump and the U.S. today.” And Jason Chaffetz added, “I think it’s a huge win for President Trump, for the United States.”

There was, of course, no “win” to be found. Trump’s own description of the meeting to Hannity was as vague as it was unimpressive. “The meeting was a 10 in the sense that we got along great, and it’s great when two big powers get along,” he said. “We agreed on a lot of points. It was one to two significant items [remaining] but I think they can be reached,” he said, punting final negotiations to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Just two days before the summit Trump vowed “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin didn’t agree to end his war in Ukraine during the meeting. But Hannity didn’t press him on that or the lack of specifics from the high-stakes meeting. He didn’t challenge him on what, if anything, was actually achieved. Instead, he lobbed softballs and let Trump drift into familiar delusions—recycling his tired false claims about the 2020 election, this time dressed up with Putin’s supposed endorsement.

“Vladimir Putin said something—one of the most interesting things,” Trump claimed. “He said, ‘your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. No country has mail-in voting and has honest elections. It’s impossible.’ And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said, ‘you won that election by so much.’”

Never mind that the claim was laughably false, or that Trump was parroting Kremlin talking points on U.S. democracy, Hannity nodded along.

Meanwhile, Putin, who has been ostracized by Western leaders since his war on Ukraine began, got exactly what he wanted, a free opportunity to rehabilitate his image and stand side-by-side with the American president in front of television cameras. And he walked away with something concrete: Trump signaling he had no plans to impose new sanctions on Russia as it continues its deadly war on Ukraine.

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump told Hannity about the possibility of crippling new sanctions. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

The contrast in coverage could not be starker. In 2021, Hannity portrayed Biden’s meeting with Putin as a catastrophic failure, declaring it produced “nothing” and gave a platform to an “evil,” “killer” autocrat. Yet when Trump did the exact same thing—only worse, by hosting Putin on U.S. soil with zero deliverables—Hannity reversed himself entirely, hailing it as a breakthrough.

Of course, it's not principle driving that flip flop; only absolute loyalty to Trump and a constant desire to smear Democrats at any cost. Hannity's guiding light isn’t about American interests or even basic consistency; his North Star is about whether Trump looks good.

And that’s the point. For MAGA Media personalities like Hannity, even basic morality is flexible, and supposed principles evaporate the moment Trump’s reputation is on the line. Even when dealing with a figure they once rightly described as a “thug” and “frankly evil,” the imperative is to spin failure into victory, to prop up Trump’s image no matter how disastrous the reality.

It’s not about holding power to account. It's not about journalism. It isn't even about honest opinion and analysis. It's ultimately all about the unflinching defense of one man, even if it means applauding appeasement of America’s enemies. In other words, it's propaganda.