While Hannity makes him out to be some Al Baghdadi-like irrational actor, it is worth remembering that this Ayatollah if anything held Ahmadinejad on a tight leash and has intervened politically to keep him out of office. That’s always stuck with me.
Ofc besides his obviously odious anti-Jew rhetoric, I always thought Ahmadinejad (from their perspective) was a strong solid leader. So if the Ayatollah wants him out of power, it must mean he’s relatively pragmatic instead of being some fanatical zealot.
Though this was mostly because Ahmadinejad is a populist who often clashed with the clerical establishment on domestic policy. There’s a reason why the clergy and IRGC consider him a part of a “deviant current”.
