Right-wing media waged 'uncivil war' all through Biden's Inauguration Day

While most of the nation was enjoying the Inaugural festivities Wednesday, Fox News host Sean Hannity ignored all that -- as did his network all night --and instead went right into this note of "history:"

"Today after a historic and groundbreaking four years in the White House, President Trump departed Washington D.C., a huge crowd awaiting him all along his route to Mar-a-Lago," Hannity proclaimed. He then launched into a passionate soliloquy about Trump's wondrous achievements and about how his movement was just beginning and that "I'm not going away."

Sadly, despite Trump's fixation on audience size mattering, multiple outlets reported that the "huge" crowds -- no more than two or three deep along his South Florida motorcade route, had at best mushroomed to "hundreds." Hannity promised his audience video and then apparently forgot.

Hannity devoted the rest of his show to all the old lies and savage attacks on Biden, Harris and all of the rest of the radical socialists who want to destroy America and goodness everywhere. Running throughout the program were dark references to how tonight will bring unimaginably horrific bombshells about America's number one concern: the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop.

By happy coincidence, "you don't want to miss" Hannity's show tonight, he suggests, because even though he says he hasn't seen the "salacious" things it contains, his sources assure Hannity that it's almost too much to bear. Tune in to bear it though. (Sad face).

Earlier in the day, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were being sworn in, Rush Limbaugh was already whimpering that "they have not legitimately won yet." Limbaugh acted apoplectic -- outrage sells -- about how singer Garth Brooks had "abandoned his base" by performing at the Inaugural and about how Biden's address "was the least memorable" and this beauty: "Every literate American should read Trump's farewell address, every word. It should be required reading for every student."

Well, that's a good one on several levels. Why Limbaugh would want to exclude so much of the Trump base with that "literate" reference is unclear. And what about the former president himself? The phrase "Trump's address" is oxymoronic unless one's referring to Mar-a-Lago or eventually somewhere like Riker's Island. As for the government torturing students, that doesn't seem right.

Today, Limbaugh continued to hammer away with such pearls as "the Left knows you exist and they want to wipe you out" and the brilliant sarcasm, "hundreds dead so far from COVID-19 due to President Biden's mishandling of the virus." That last one's a real knee-slapper except for the huge portion of those 400,000 souls who might not have perished had Trump not treated the virus as "15 cases maybe down to zero" that would go away like magic.

The message is clear: Right-wing media will not allow its audience of tens of millions to be exposed to a single thing President Biden and Vice President Harris can say or do that could ever be shed in a positive light. Nada. Not one moment of the Inaugural would be allowed to interfere with what Biden termed the "uncivil war" in his address.

Here's a brief metaphorical spaceship tour of the wing-nut galaxy from Inauguration Day:

Lou Dobbs on Fox Business: "Today almost no one was there to attend. Despite receiving 80 million votes, President Joe Biden was talking with a select group of dignitaries before a National Mall devoid of people and filled only with flags." Dobbs wistfully said he's heard Trump might form a new political party -- the Patriot Party--adding "Personally, I think that's got a great ring to it, don't you?"

Fox News' Tucker Carlson was especially offended by the notion that Biden wasn't cool with white supremacy: ""Now that we're waging war on white supremacists, can somebody tell us in very clear language what a white supremacist is?" Carlson asked.

"Innocent people could be hurt in this war. They usually are," the host continued. "There could be collateral damage in this war. And the casualties will be Americans. So again, what is a white supremacist? You might be surprised to learn just how broad the definition for that has become."

Then there was "One America News" -- OANN, the network for people for whom Fox News' red meat doesn't even seem pink -- with this lovely coverage, as reported by the New York Times:

"On One America News, viewers saw a lengthy documentary-style segment called "Trump: Legacy of a Patriot" instead of the inauguration," the Times reported. "One of the network's commentators, Pearson Sharp, provided the voice-over and offered only flattering words about the former president while he leveled false claims about voter fraud.

"Mr. Sharp repeated many of the discredited excuses that have formed the alternate version of events that Mr. Trump and his followers are using to explain his loss. The host claimed, for instance, that Mr. Trump couldn't have been defeated because he won the bellwether state of Ohio and carried so many more counties than Mr. Biden did. 'And yet somehow we're still expected to believe that Joe Biden got more votes than any president in history,'" Mr. Sharp said.

"Then he issued a rallying cry to Trump supporters. 'Now it's up to the American people to continue President Trump's fight, or all the progress we've made as a nation will quickly unravel,' Mr. Sharp said."

Then there was this act of patriotism from Newsmax -- Newsmax, the network for people for whom OANN's red meat doesn't even seem pink -- via host Greg Kelly:

"How do you feel about Joe Biden? He is the president of the United States. It's OK, ladies and gentlemen, to say you do not wish the president success. It is. Now I wish him no harm, of course, and I want him to be happy and healthy in his life, but I wish Joe Biden no success. I don't want him to reenter the Paris Climate Accord. It's OK to say that. I don't want him stacking the Supreme Court, as he pretty much said he would during the campaign. I don't want him to succeed at that. I don't want him reentering any nuclear deal, that was so flawed, with the Iranians. I don't want to see that. So, it's actually OK to say you don't want to see Joe Biden succeed. Remember, he is the head of the executive branch. OK? And we've got three branches, they are all co-equal. Fair enough? Fair enough."