Former President Donald Trump didn’t sound thrilled that Verizon recently revealed it would be dropping One America News (OAN), a far-right channel strongly supportive — to delusional extents — of the ex-president.
“One America News (OAN) is AMAZING, with great ratings and a REALLY loyal following,” Trump said in a Truth Social post from nearly 3 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. “Despite it being so good, VERIZON, for purely political reasons, will be terminating OAN at the end of this month. Isn’t this “stuff” supposed to be illegal? The good news is that the owners and management of One America News is smart and very wise. They will figure it out!” There’s no actual indication Verizon was preparing to drop OAN because of political reasons, although the company faced pressure to stop facilitating the spread of the conspiracy theory-driven channel. Verizon didn’t mention advocacy from external sources for it to part ways with OAN in its public statement about the line-up change. The company was “unable to reach an agreement to continue carrying One America News,” it stated.
According to an expert providing info to The New York Times, only a few hundred thousand people receiving television programming through select, small cable providers will now be able to access One America News through their cable line-ups. Potential viewers can also access OAN content directly from the outlet. At the beginning of this year, One America News was reaching some 20 million homes more than it’s getting to now, following decisions by Verizon and DirecTV to move on without the channel.
In other Truth Social posts from Sunday, Trump criticized Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser — although criticism might be too generous of a term for whatever it is he was doing. Posting in reply to his own question in an earlier post of why Pelosi was “getting involved with China and Taiwan,” Trump said: “Because she’s Lonely, and Crazy as a bedbug! She needs to be away from home, especially at this moment, even if it starts World War III.” Trump also blamed Bowser and Pelosi for January 6, although as president, he could’ve taken additional steps to protect the Capitol that he utterly failed to complete.
In additional posts, Donald went after Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos (R). Despite Vos’s apparent openness to investigating baseless election fraud claims, he seems to have drawn Trump’s ire in part by resisting a very recent push from the ex-president for the invalidation of the Wisconsin 2020 presidential election results. Strikingly, Trump called Vos and pushed the state legislative leader to pursue that invalidation after a Wisconsin state Supreme Court ruling against using most ballot drop boxes in the state, but Vos says he indicated to the ex-president that step wasn’t possible.
“And Robin Vos is only getting worse,” Trump complained. “Wants toll booths put on many highways, and a BIG GAS TAX ASAP. He is a RINO disaster, very much as the worst politician in the Nation, “Giveaway” Mitch McConnell, who gives the Dems everything, and gets NOTHING for it – Never fights for Republicans!” The problem is that you can’t just wave your arms and do whatever you want with the electoral outcome. Vos obviously sounds correct. “Robin Vos is sooo bad for the Great State of Wisconsin that I am seriously thinking of Supporting and ENDORSING his Opponent. Anyone would be better! STAY TUNED!!!” Trump nonetheless angrily added Sunday. It seems clear he’s desperate to distract from the truth of the destructiveness of his actions.
