Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who misplaced each his Home seat and his function as Donald Trump’s legal professional basic due to allegations that he intercourse trafficked minors, has landed his post-Congress gig: a prime-time present on the far-right propaganda community One America Information.
Gaetz has all the time prioritized being the focal point over truly governing, plotting stunts he knew would get him air time on cable information exhibits. In 2021, Gaetz revealed that he had been in talks with OAN, Fox Information, and Newsmax about doable jobs at their firms.
Now he has his personal program, creatively named “The Matt Gaetz Present” which is able to air weeknights at 9 PM Jap, competing with Sean Hannity on Fox Information.
“His knack for connecting with grassroots Americans and shaking up the status quo makes him a dynamic and timely addition to OAN’s team,” the corporate mentioned in a assertion.
“OAN is blazing a trail in media, embracing not just traditional news but the platforms where Americans are going—streaming, apps, podcasts and social media,” Gaetz mentioned within the launch. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to join OAN’s forward-thinking team and be part of this revolutionary expansion.”
What Gaetz leaves out of his assertion is that OAN prioritizes streaming, apps, podcasts, and social media as a result of it actually would not air on any main cable carriers. In 2022, Verizon grew to become the ultimate main cable provider to drop the pro-Trump channel, following DirecTV—ravenous the community of each viewership and 90% of its funds.
Moreover, OAN is insane. In 2019, the Every day Beast reported that Kristian Brunovich Rouz, one of many community’s reporters, concurrently labored for the Kremlin-owned Sputnik that was a part of Russia’s election meddling in 2016. However the channel rose to prominence one yr later when Trump grew to become one in all its largest followers, because the channel is principally a 24/7 lovefest for Trump and his insurance policies.
Devin Gordon of The Atlantic wrote of OAN in 2020:
“One America News, or OAN, or OANN—whichever you like, it’s all the same thing—is Donald Trump’s favorite cable-news channel. Mostly this is because One America News seems to agree with Trump about everything, in the same way a dog agrees to chase its own tail. Every day, Trump does something that catches OAN’s attention, and it’s off to the races. He’s part ringleader, part muse. If you’re wondering just how deep the fealty goes, consider this actual headline that ran on oann.com at the end of March, when Trump was still in his denial phase about the coronavirus: “President Handling Emergency Well in First Term.” So effectively, in truth, we should always simply give him that second time period proper now, wouldn’t you say? Sometimes, Trump and Fox Information have a lover’s spat, and that is when he actually activates the appeal towards OAN—retweeting its reward of him, calling on its correspondents at press briefings two days in a row. Or, to place the connection in tabloid phrases acquainted to Trump: He treats OAN like his sidepiece, and Fox Information like a future ex-wife.”
Certainly, OAN was instrumental in pushing Trump’s baseless lies that the election that yr had been stolen from him. The channel ended up settling lawsuits from each Dominion Voting Companies and Smartmatic, after its on-air expertise baselessly accused the election know-how firms of fraud.
OAN was nonetheless pushing the baseless fraud allegations effectively into 2021, with an anchor calling for tens of hundreds of individuals to be executed for committing voter fraud.
“There’s a real fascist vibe to this One America News personality calmly calling for the execution of potentially tens of thousands of Americans over fake voter fraud claims,” Washington Submit media reporter Will Sommer mentioned of the clip on the time.
In 2022, after the community sued DirecTV for dropping the channel, comic John Oliver described the channel’s on-air expertise as a “ragtag band of fascists.”
”I do get that they (OAN) are upset right here, simply as I get that they’re an intellectually bankrupt group filled with opportunistic grifters who’ve achieved nothing however make this nation a worse place,” Oliver mentioned in a phase on “Last Week Tonight” concerning the channel being dropped by DirecTV. “But perhaps this isn’t the time for that and perhaps I am sorry for taking joy in their misfortune and kicking them when they are so clearly down. But on the other hand, perhaps I am not.”
As for Gaetz, it’s unclear how a lot he’s getting paid for his OAN present, or if the Home Ethics Committee report about whether or not Gaetz intercourse trafficked minors would compromise his internet hosting gig. Thus far, Republicans on the Home Ethics Committee have been blocking the discharge of the report to assist protect the previous member from accountability.
For individuals who are enthusiastic about watching an accused sexual predator spewing right-wing madness, his program is about to start in January, in accordance to Gaetz’s spouse, Ginger.
Editor’s observe: This story has been up to date to incorporate a video clip.
