Sean Hannity called Trump ‘bats--t crazy’ behind his back, according to book by CNN’s Brian Stelter

“Trump is a bats--t crazy person,” Fox News host Sean Hannity, one of the president’s biggest supporters, has reportedly said behind closed doors. But on air, it’s a different story.

A new book due out Tuesday by CNN’s Brian Stelter paints a portrait of Fox News’ co-dependent relationship with President Trump as conflicting, exhausting and embarrassing for many at the right-wing media outlet, where one anchor reportedly confessed, “We just surrendered.”

According to at excerpt published Thursday in Vanity Fair from Stelter’s tome, “Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth,” Hannity gets the best and the worst of that alleged partnership, allegedly playing the part of “a wife in a sexless marriage,” Stelter writes.

While detailing the life of riches that complicity has brought Hannity’s way, some of the more than 300 past and present Fox staffers Stelter interviewed describe the networks’ alpha as a generous and likable guy who tells people off the record that “Trump is a bats--t crazy person.”

But just the same, Hannity sits at the president’s beck and call, scoring huge ratings when Trump wants to do damage control, as was the case on March 26 when the commander-in-chief’s COVID-19 briefings turned into a PR nightmare for the White House. The two of them went to work.

A moment of panic allegedly set in as Hannity sat in his anchor chair waiting for the president to phone in and give him show content for that evening’s episode of “Hannity.”

“Is he there?” a panicky Hannity allegedly asked his control room at showtime.

Just in time, Trump swooped in, saying “I am, I’m right here. Hi, Sean.”

Hannity was relieved, Stelter reports.

Trump kept Chinese president XI Jinping waiting while he and Hannity flattered each other on air and promoted their mutual agenda for the better part of an hour, the book says. Trump allegedly called Hannity the next morning to see if they’d scored big ratings.

As Stelter points out, this happened at the height of the pandemic, which continues to spread out of control in the U.S. The COVID-19 scourge has so far killed more than 170,000 people and crippled the economy.

Being Trump’s wingman takes its toll on Hannity, according to Stelter’s sources. At one point, he started vaping constantly and putting on weight.

“If you were hearing what I’m hearing, you’d be vaping too,” he reportedly told a colleague.

Bothered by online mockery over his weight gain, Hannity, a martial arts practitioner, got himself back into shape.

Trump and Hannity’s dependence on each other appear to be a two-way street. A family friend of the TV host told Stelter, “I hear Trump talk at rallies, and I hear Sean.”

During the 2018 midterm elections, Hannity joined Trump on the campaign trail in Missouri, where the Fox host took the stage to call reporters covering the event “fake news.”

While other Fox anchors like Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson occasionally score chats with the president, Hannity is his go-to guy. Geraldo Rivera has asked Hannity on the air to send his regards to the president.

Trump is also a fan of the morning show “Fox & Friends,” though the feeling isn’t necessarily mutual among some backstage. A producer on the show told Stelter that on days the president calls in, they don’t even bother writing segment material because they know he’s going to talk the entire time.

Some Fox staffers reportedly resent the network’s willingness to let Trump hijack programming, but feel helpless.

According to Stelter, there are employees who are embarrassed by the conservative cable outlet’s willingness to advance what they feel is irresponsible coverage of important issues including the pandemic and have had rifts with family members about their involvement in that process. They rationalize by saying they’re simply providing a service for which there is a market. One veteran staffer described a “Frankenstein” dynamic, where the monster has outgrown its creator.

“I feel like Fox is being held hostage by its audience,” that person told Stelter. “The audience has been RADICALIZED. ”

According to Stelter, Hannity’s on air shtick means that he can’t acknowledge Trump’s alleged nutty behavior.

Hannity didn’t seem concerned about Stelter’s book when he caught wind of it in February and wondered if the CNN anchor would want to come on his show to promote it.

“The answer is NO!” Hannity tweeted.

He also mocked the sales numbers of a fellow CNN anchor’s recently released book and wondered if Stelter’s would be a bomb.

Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.