Sean Hannity's interview with Donald Trump after the Russia summit was just embarrassing

A lot of media people wasted no time and spared no outrage following President Donald Trump's Helsinki press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

CNN's Anderson Cooper called it "perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly than I’ve ever seen." 

Well, of course he did, you can hear conservatives say. "He's a leftist! He hates Trump! Fox News would never let anyone get away with that!"

Actually. ...

Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto called the appearance "disgusting." Is that worse than "disgraceful?" Tomato, tomahto. It's not a compliment, whatever the case. "It's not a left or right thing," Cavuto said. "It's just wrong."

Wow. That's unusual. On the other hand, given several opportunities, Trump declined to hold Putin responsible for Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, even though U.S. intelligence agencies are in agreement that it happened. Could this be enough that even so strong a Trump apologist as Sean Hannity might be critical of the president's actions?

Hahahahaha. Sorry. Let me catch my breath here.

This isn't journalism

Hannity scored the first post-summit interview with Trump, because of course he did. Hannity's interview — let's call it an "interview" — aired during his nightly show Monday.

And it was really something.

It sure wasn't journalism.

Basically, it boiled down to this: Trump told hero stories of his meeting with Putin — guess who the hero was — and Hannity cheered him on. "At this show, we're not afraid to report what the mainstream media won't report," he said early in the hour.

If this is "reporting," why would they want to?

Compare this with, for instance, Chris Wallace's interview with Putin earlier on Fox News, in which he repeatedly grilled Putin on Russian interference in the election, on the deaths of his critics, on any number of issues Trump wouldn't raise and Hannity certainly wouldn't. It's the difference in journalism and aiding and abetting.

Hannity set up the interview with more than 10 minutes of Trump glorification and media bashing. "The left is in total freak-out mode," he said. As for the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, "This is a total left-wing conspiracy. This is a fantasy. This is a witch hunt."

He did a quick run-through of his greatest hits — "the destroy-Trump, hate-Trump media" are "blinded by hate," as well as this old chestnut: "That's your corrupt mainstream media."

Well, this was your state-run media, or something precious close. The interview began with Hannity telling Trump, "You were very strong at the end of that press conference." The end of the press conference was precisely when Trump declined to side with U.S. intelligence, but of course, Trump basked in the compliment. This is exactly why he gave Hannity the interview.

Trump: Putin said 'there was no collusion'

There was no collusion, Trump explained, as Hannity looked on approvingly, because ... Putin said there wasn't.

"He said there was no collusion whatsoever," Trump said of Putin. "I guess he said it as strongly as you could say it. He said it's nonsense."

Here's where Hannity jumped in and said, wait a second Mr. President, what about ... wait, sorry. That's what a journalist would do. Hannity just nodded like one of those little plastic dogs people used to put in the back of their cars.

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"He said there was no collusion," Trump continued. "Which you know, and everybody who watches your show knows."

This was quite a moment, a real head-scratcher. 

Then it got better.

"Tucker's standing over there, he gets it," Trump said, referring to Carlson, who wasn't shown but presumably was standing off to the side, waiting his turn (Carlson's interview will air Tuesday.)

Trump and Hannity talked about Syria, talked about Iran, bashed former President Barack Obama's Iran deal (a solid go-to for the Hannity audience and the Trump base, which is basically the same thing), trashed CNN and The New York Times — what a party!

More propaganda than public service

Trump said he wasn't happy with some glowing economic numbers Hannity referenced, saying they weren't good enough. Hannity laughed and said, "Keep working hard. I think it'll get there."

All right, Hannity loves to bash the media while enjoying their benefits, such as they are. But this was more propaganda than public service. And if there were any lingering questions about any semblance of objectivity, Hannity dashed it as the two men laughed about Trump's characterization of a free press.

"An enemy of the people," Hannity chuckled. "Aren't you really saying they aren't doing their job?"

No, Sean, they are doing their job. Sadly, so are you, I guess, but it's a tough one to stomach.

Yet it was perhaps the perfect Fox News experience. Trump praises himself, bashes his enemies, and Hannity is there to help.

He was talking about the investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections here, but at the end, Trump said, "It's a very sad thing for our country to see this."

When it comes to Hannity's coddling, I couldn't agree more.

Bill Goodykoontz is a film critic and columnist at The Arizona Republic, where this column first appeared. You can follow him on Twitter: @goodyk.