Far-right network OAN airs Trump ‘tribute’ video set to Rudyard Kipling poem

Network airs 'tribute to his accomplishments' from Infowars contributor who celebrated insurrection

Alex Woodward

New York

Friday 12 February 2021 00:14 GMT

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OAN airs Trump 'tribute' video ahead of impeachment trial.mp4

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Hours before a prosecution team closed its arguments against Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, One America News Network aired a two-minute tribute to the former president set to a solemn reading of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" and dramatic slow-motion footage from his time in office.

"Despite endless lies and attacks from Democrats and the media, President Trump and the administration fought for the country over the past four years, and now the network would like to share this tribute to his accomplishments," said anchor Lilia Fifield as she introduced the video on Thursday.

The far-right, explicitly pro-Trump network followed the video – aired during a news segment, not an opinion programme – with a "call to action" to its viewers urging them to call their cable providers to continue carrying its "truthful, unbiased reporting".

At the top of the screen during the tribute video, OAN credited Harrison Hill Smith – a contributor to conspiracy theorist network Infowars who in recent weeks has cheered on and defended the insurrection at the US Capitol and promoted the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from the former president, the "big lie" that fuelled the assault.

He also has amplified the white supremacist "groyper" movement and "antisemitic, anti-Islam, racist and homophobic rhetoric" on Twitter, according to the Austin Chronicle.

During the Capitol riots on 6 January, which led to the deaths of at least eight people with dozens injured, Mr Smith broadcast from Infowars, praising and encouraging the riot, and calling the Black Lives Matter movement "an impotent pointless nonsense protest based off misinformation."

"We always knew in the back of our minds, in the back of our heads, we had the numbers, we had the will," he said during the broadcast. "We could through the electoral process maintain some semblance of control over what is supposed to be our representative democracy, our republic. Well, they stole that from us. They took away the final lifeline."

The "tribute" video – featuring a poem meditating on patience and self-control in the face of adversity – was aired as House impeachment managers prepared to detail the former president's years-long history of encouraging violence against his perceived political enemies, as the third day of his trial was underway following his impeachment for inciting the deadly insurrection.

On Wednesday, members of Congress acting as prosecutors in the trial aired a comprehensive video timeline showing the chaos and demonstrated the former president's "pattern and practice" of praising violence from his supporters.

During the opening day of the trial, the network repeatedly compared the insurrection inside the halls of Congress to overturn election results to “violent and disturbing scenes” in Washington DC for Trump’s inauguration in 2017, as well as Black Lives Matter demonstrations “turning cities like Portland and Seattle into war zones".

OAN and other right-wing media networks are facing legal pressure following defamation lawsuits against Newsmax and Fox News for amplifying baseless conspiracy theories about voting machine companies.

Attorneys for the former president are allotted 16 hours to mount a defence, expected to begin on Friday.

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