On April 13th, Fox “news” staged an event (*staged* being the operative word) in our home turf of Pittsburgh that they billed as a “town hall” with Sean Hannity and Donald Trump.

A long line of people, stretching for blocks, waited for hours to get into the hall for the live taping which was to be run that night on Hannity’s show. We waited along with them to get an inside view on the workings of the Fox propaganda machine. The day did not disappoint.

The audio clips you’re about to hear are of the insufferably smug Hannity rousing the mobbish crowd before the show with a stand up routine that is equal parts bad comedy and two minutes hate:

Did you catch the moment near the end where he asks a 14 year old girl, Julia, why the country needs to be saved? Her response begs the question: should instilling a child’s mind, by design, with fear and hate not be considered a form of abuse?

That’s what was so unsettling about the whole thing — all the over-the-top flag waving and gaudy appeals to patriotism mixed with open displays of rage, extremism, and raw hatred.

Like Norman Rockwell risen from the dead as a flesh-eating zombie, or a Hallmark card from Hitler.