How Trump turned Sean Hannity into a conspiracy theorist

Sean Hannity was a reliable pro-Trump voice on Fox News throughout the 2016 presidential race, frequently touting Donald Trump’s campaign and inviting the then-candidate onto his show.

Since the election, however, Hannity has taken on a new role in the pro-Trump ecosystem: conspiracy theorist in chief.

Hannity has spent the first year of the Trump administration peddling wild conspiracy theories about shadowy governments agents, Hillary Clinton, and journalists who he perceives as unfriendly toward the White House. His show is now defined by paranoia about the “deep state,” witch hunts against career politicians, and wild speculation. According to a recent study by Vox senior reporter Alvin Chang, Hannity’s show has featured more conspiracy-related language than any other cable news show on TV by a wide margin.

Those conspiracy theories have pushed Hannity out of the realm of typical conservative punditry and into the territory of people like Alex Jones, who have increasingly praised Hannity for embracing his paranoid delusions.

But they’ve also spooked Fox News’s advertisers, who are becoming increasingly skittish about Hannity’s willingness to go off the rails — and even contradict his own network’s reporting. Hannity’s conspiracy theories have caused two major riffs with advertisers this year alone.

As Hannity continues using his show to protect Trump, Fox News will have to decide how much it will allow the conspiracy monster it’s created to threaten the network’s bottom line.

You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube. Subscribe for more episodes of Strikethrough, our series exploring the media in the age of Trump.