Triggered by Coffee Machines: The Feelings-Free Right that Never Was
By Deshani Gunathilake
Fox News’ Sean Hannity and supporters of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore have resorted to smashing their Keurig coffee machines. This is in protest of the company pulling its advertisements from Hannity’s show, prompting CEO Bob Gamgort to apologize for the decision. This follows hot on the heels of some conservatives boycotting the NFL over players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Conservatives have embraced a veneer of apathy, belittling liberals’ distress over perceived injustices and dubbing them “snowflakes.” But the #BoycottKeurig phenomenon betrays an increasingly frail conservative psyche. It seems conservatives are fine with histrionics when one of their own is under attack.
The Keurig boycott is the conservatives’ response to Keurig Green Mountain pulling their advertisements from Hannity’s show, after he defended Moore against allegations of pedophilia. Moore is accused of having pursued a sexual relationship with a woman when she was 14 and he was 32, and having numerous other affairs with women between the ages of 16 to 18. According to one of his former colleagues, it was common knowledge in the early 1980s that Moore dated high school girls. On Hannity’s radio show, Moore vehemently denied the allegations and called them a political attack.
Hannity used the opportunity to defend Moore, adding to the conversation with suggestions like, people lie all the time, “it’s something to think about.” His defense of Moore was limited to him being attacked by the establishment GOP because he’s someone they can’t control, that Bill Clinton was not asked to step down after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and “how do you possibly tell, know the truth?” Following this, Keurig Green Mountain and several other advertisers, including Realtor.com, withdrew their advertisements from Hannity’s show. Since coffee machines are much easier to smash than a real estate listings website, Hannity’s supporters have taken to social media to break their Keurigs — using hammers, golf clubs, and tossing one off a second-story window — and announcing a boycott against the advertisers. Hannity — having long forgotten how he ridicules “coddled, crybaby liberals” for caring too much — is humbled and speechless, and loving the attention.
Perhaps the reason why conservatives have shed their contrived nonchalance is that the last time advertisers withdrew support for a Fox talk show host (hint: Bill O’Reilly), it cost him his job. Earlier this year, The New York Times released an article that Bill O’Reilly, Fox’s then-top talk show host, paid $13 million to women who accused him of sexual harassment. Advertisers like Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai pulled their advertisements from his program, and more than fifty others followed. Just a few weeks later, O’Reilly was ousted from Fox News, although he recently appeared as a guest on Hannity’s show. Clearly, advertisers’ decisions have a huge impact, and for conservatives, a little hysteria is fine to protect your own. In any event, it is rather rich to see conservatives resort to smashing their own property to stick it to those with different viewpoints in light of their vocal disdain for liberal “safe spaces.”
With the Keurig boycott, conservatives — once uncaring and dismissing of pedantry — have shown that they do care. For some, the threshold seems to be an attack against their beloved conservative talk show host, even if he is a pedophilia apologist. For others, the threshold seems to be reports alleging that an old, white, conservative candidate with a history of bigotry is a sexual predator, disputing his credibility. When one of their own is under attack, the demographic that longs for “family values” can conveniently abandon the idea in a hurry. In fact, 35 percent of voters said the allegations against Moore made them more likely to vote for him. As conservative outrage over attacks against their sacred crusaders grew, it became blatantly clear that for them, “fuck your feelings” does not apply. The idea that conservatives navigate politics without being triggered by perceived injustices (like they claim liberals do), as the latest spectacle proves, is a façade.
Perhaps more importantly than exposing conservatives’ front, advertisers’ actions have pressured the talk show host to distancing himself from Moore. Hannity’s incomplete epiphany came in various stages. He first gave Moore an ultimatum to explain the inconsistencies in his responses to the allegations, or drop out of the race, but circled back to saying that Moore should have the benefit of the doubt. Hannity also quite absurdly said whether the allegations are true or not “shouldn’t be decided by me,” and that it’s up to Alabama voters to decide. Hannity’s weak attempt at modesty would have been laughable if he did not wield such influence in swaying conservative opinion. The role of advertiser support is all the more important in the age of “fake news,” when the president and his base continuously attack journalism smearing all except a few organizations as “crooked media.” Advertiser withdrawal might not have pressured Hannity to fully retract his defense of Moore, but it forced him to acknowledge the significance and consequence of the allegations.
Regardless of Hannity’s stance, his supporters stay committed to protecting him from the perceived injustice of advertiser withdrawal. As #IStandWithHannity demonstrates, there never was a feelings-free right, but a right that merely pretends to not care, only to match liberal tears when a conservative grievance is under attack. But after the latest Keurig debacle? Conservatives, it is time to stop pretending that you don’t care anymore.
Deshani has written for the Washington Examiner and the Foundation for Economic Education. She can be found on Twitter @dd_gunners.