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Sean Hannity draws flak for comparing FDR's leadership to Trump's handling of Covid-19: 'He flunked history'

'FDR's 'Nothing to fear' quote is from his 1933 inaugural address, 8 years before Pearl Harbor. Hannity is the one who needs a history lesson,' wrote one user

Fox News host Sean Hannity was heavily criticized on social media after he attempted to defend the president by comparing him to the 32nd leader of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt, after an audio excerpt from Bob Woodward's interview with Donald Trump suggested that the POTUS "always wanted to play it (coronavirus outbreak) down."

Hannity compared Trump's handling of the health crisis to FDR's leadership during World War II. In doing so, he not only got Roosevelt's quote wrong, he also mentioned an inaccurate timeline of his historic statement. 

"Did President Roosevelt fan the flames of misery? Did he call for panic and anxiety? No, he actually rallied a nation in a time of need. He focused on making Americans stronger by staying positive, and he got to work and he rolled up his sleeves. During World War II, with the country on the brink, FDR proclaimed, 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself'," Hannity said. 

He added: "Well, those were brutally tough times. Did the media attack him? Of course not. What about in the aftermath, 9/11/2001— twentieth anniversary in two days — what was President Bush supposed to say? 'America's going down in flames. You better go hide in your basement bunker?' Of course not. The president's job is to maintain order, and by the way, right the ship during and after a crisis, not spread panic, not spreading fear among the population. Let's make one thing perfectly clear, President Trump has never misled or distorted the truth about this deadly disease."

FDR had said "Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself" during his 1933 inaugural address in reference to the Great Depression that the nation was reeling under. This fact was pointed out by a number of people on social media as Hannity was mocked for lack of knowledge about historical facts. Many people also commented saying that FDR faced his fair share of criticism from the media during his time. 

The following are some of the reactions:

"FDR's 'Nothing to fear' quote is from his 1933 inaugural address, 8 years before Pearl Harbor. Hannity is the one who needs a history lesson."

"Hannity must have flunked history. He said FDR said 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself' in 'the middle of World War II.' Only off by a decade (he said it in his 1933 inaugural in reference to the Depression). I know that’s a minor distortion for him."

"Ok, Hannity is attempting to clean up for Trump. My brain can't twist into Hannity's deception. Or Hannity comparing Trump to FDR, 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself.'"

"Sean Hannity seems to think 'the media' never attacked FDR. High school is going to be a challenge for some people. #derp"

"#HANNITY is a 3-time college dropout — his use of history was flawed — #FDR didn’t lie abt the despair of the #Depression or #PearlHarbor — #Americans didn’t panic with #September11 or #OklahomaCity — Americans rally & unite in crises — @seanhannity is #ignorant & #trump lied"

"Hannity and his pals would have called FDR a Socialist and nailed him to the wall for his policies."

"@seanhannity Here is what FDR said two months after Pearl Harbor, 'The news is going to get worse and worse before it gets better and better, and the American people deserve to have it straight from the shoulder.' My History Lesson To An Idiot!!"

"Hannity shows his uncanny knack for drawing outrageous comparisons. Trump and FDR will forever be at opposite ends of best presidents lists. Trump will be the worst and most corrupt for many decades hence. Hannity and Ingraham will be long forgotten jokes of a bygone era."

Meanwhile, as soon as the Woodward book scandal hit the news circle, the president decided to embrace the best platform he had to freely voice his defense without being interrupted or counter-questioned — Hannity. Trump appeared on his segment on Wednesday and responded to the Woodward interview by saying he did not want to react to the coronavirus pandemic by "jumping up and down and going wild".

"But if you look at what I said today, I said don’t panic," Trump told Hannity about the audio released on Wednesday, September 9, which was recorded in early February and March. "We don't want to be jumping up and down and going wild. Don't panic."

He then went on to elaborate on what he did to keep the virus under check, beginning with the ban on China travel. "I did something very important, at the end of January I banned China," Trump said. "Nobody wanted me to do a ban on China."

Trump claimed that his administration has done a great job keeping the death toll lower than it could have been. "Nobody had any idea it would be as violent as it was gonna be," he said. "We could have lost 2 million, 2-and-a-half million. If you look at fatality numbers compared to other countries, it's amazing what we've done. We've done an incredible job."