What The Hell America!

Another host, the oft-mendacious Dan Ball, frequently espouses conspiracy theories and has a regular “This Week in Woke America” segment that makes misleading charges against liberals like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom he calls “champagne liberals.” He’s brought on disgraced doctor Robert Malone to defend Robert F. Kennedy’s unfounded claim that vaccines may be causing autism. He’s also welcomed Steven Friend, a former FBI agent who, before becoming an advisor to FBI Director Kash Patel, had his security clearance revoked after he refused to arrest anyone involved in the January 6 attack. In a segment on “Biden’s scheme to spy on Americans,” Friend claimed that the former president’s spying “laid the groundwork for them to debank people,” “coordinate with universities to repress free speech,” and alert the military that “pro-lifers were potentially terrorists.” Ball called it a form of “tyranny”—the kind, he said, that Democrats accuse Trump of doing, but “he’s not.”

It’s not just what you’ll find on OAN that’s the problem, though. It’s also what you won’t find: criticism of the president. The network observed Trump’s 100th day in office with a fawning piece entitled, “Celebrating ‘100 Days’ In: Notable Accomplishments In The Second Trump Administration,” which credited Trump with a slight decline in inflation and decent jobs reports while failing to mention that the stock market has declined 5 percent since inauguration. It also praises toothless, culture-war executive orders such as “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” and “Restoring ‘Truth and Sanity’ to American History.”

OAN is unabashed about its mission, which has nothing to do with independent journalist that tells the truth, free of political interference. The network is literally independent, as a business entity, but figuratively it’s an arm of Trump’s propaganda network. OAN runs political interference on his behalf, and does such a good job of it that Trump himself, back in 2023, sent them a thank-you video. “To all of the great views and people of OAN, you’ve been my friend and I’ve been your friend for a long time,” he said. “These are brave people that are doing this. I want to just congratulate them…. I really believe we owe them a big debt of gratitude.” Now, Trump is repaying that debt. Spreading OAN content via Voice of America might not cost U.S. taxpayers a dime, but it will impoverish the minds of anyone around the world who listens to it seeking the truth.