Fox News' Hannity isn't worried about Newsom. 'He doesn't work.' | Opinion

Sean Hannity has been a fixture of conservative media for 30 years. He joined Fox News in 1996 and is the longest-running prime-time host in cable news; his show averages about 3 million viewers a night.

At 64, Hannity is adding to his workload rather than scaling back. In March, he launched a twice-weekly podcast, "Hang Out with Sean Hannity," with early guests including Stephen A. Smith, Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

I spoke with Hannity about the podcast, his former Fox colleagues Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, his relationship-turned-feud with Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the future of the Republican Party after President Donald Trump.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You've been in this business for decades, with a successful radio and TV show. Why start a podcast?

Radio's different, TV's different, the podcast is different, and I love all of them. It's just fun. I feel like I've had an undeserved life being able to do it. The audience has been so supportive of me over all these years in each medium, and I'm very blessed.

People ask, when do you rest? I'll rest when I'm dead.

I grew up in an environment – maybe this has something to do with it – where I kind of got to raise myself. My mom was the valedictorian of her high school class, but college wasn't in the cards. She was a prison guard, worked 16-hour shifts almost every day of her adult life. It was good, on the one hand because I was independent. From the time I was 8, I was making my own money, I was buying my own food. It wasn't like we had dinner on the table at 6 o'clock and everyone had to be there. But it gave me the independence to just pursue all the things I wanted to do. And one of them was always to work.

Your former Fox colleagues Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson have done well going out on their own. Do you still stay in touch?

I don't. I'm just not in touch with them. You know, it's so funny. It's like every time I do an interview, I assume (that) because they worked at Fox, people want me to engage in a conflict, a battle, a fight. I'm just not at that stage of my life and career.

I will say this. I never had any problems with them when they were at Fox at all, really got along fine.

I'm really grateful for what I do at Fox. What other people do on air, whatever controversial things they bring up, I'm not going to spend my time paying attention to it or commenting on it or caring.

You've been open about your relationship with Gavin Newsom, but that's changed in recent months. What's going on, and is Newsom a serious threat for 2028?

Yeah, we're not friends anymore. I think his odds are diminishing in large part because he's done such a poor job in his state. No. 1, I think that'll be a big issue. His answer to everything is going to be, we have the fourth largest economy. That's not really good enough.

Largest income tax, gas tax, sales tax in the entire country. And they still are running a multibillion dollar deficit, sanctuary state. 

They have the worst poverty rate, the worst homeless rate. Here's my biggest complaint, though. The guy doesn't show up. He doesn't work. The guy's never in California. He's a world traveler. He's in Davos. He's in Munich. He's here, there, everywhere. (Newsom has frequently criticized Hannity by name on his podcast and on social media.) He's a full-time Trump stalker. He's a half-time Hannity stalker. He thinks he's funny. It's not.

Do you worry the conservative movement has become too tied to Trump personally?

No, I don't. If you go back after President Ronald Reagan and he had a great presidency, really phenomenal success. And I think we're going to have the same golden era of economic success.

So do I think that just as Republicans quoted Reagan for decades after he was president, that they'll be doing the same thing with President Trump? I do. I think that he has reshaped the conservative movement for decades to come.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques