During last year’s election campaign, a wildly over-the-top campaign spot for Donald Trump aired only once—during Sean Hannity’s Fox News show—and this could help explain the reason why. A new book from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael C. Bender claims that the Fox News host actually helped write the ad’s script. The spot described Biden as a “47-year swamp creature” who had “accomplished nothing” during his long career. According to Bender, the ad became a running joke among Trump staffers, and they aired it for one time only on Hannity’s show to keep the host and Trump happy. “Inside the campaign, the spot was mocked mercilessly—mostly because of the dramatic, over-the-top language and a message that seemed to value quantity over quality,” wrote the Journal reporter in an extract published by Punchbowl. Hannity denied being involved in writing the spot, telling Bender: “Anybody who said that is full of shit.” The ad reportedly cost some $1.5 million to make and broadcast.
