S7 E7: OAN, Coronavirus Update & Rat Erotica Update: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Trump Administration's Response

• The COVID-19 pandemic is still dominating the news, and people are handling isolation in different ways, such as Jeremy Renner releasing his debut EP of songs titled "The Medicine" (59s).
• Donald Trump held a press conference announcing that the virus could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans, and claimed that if he had done nothing, there could have been over 2 million deaths (1m38s).
• Trump's statement that 200,000 deaths would be a good job is considered callous and an attempt to minimize the deaths of Americans (2m11s).
• The federal response under Trump has actively made things worse, particularly the rollout of testing, which continues to undermine efforts to contain the virus (2m46s).
• Trump has suggested that it's the states' responsibility to fix things, an attitude that was echoed by Jared Kushner, who said that states should not count on a federal stockpile of medical supplies (3m1s).
• The notion of a federal stockpile is meant to be a national stockpile for use by the United States, not state stockpiles (3m26s).
• With states being left to pick up the federal government's slack, the fate of individuals may come down to how good their governor is, and some governors, such as Gavin Newsom in California and Mike DeWine in Ohio, have done well in handling the crisis (3m55s).
• Other governors, such as Andrew Cuomo in New York, have aggressively managed the crisis, but have also made mistakes, such as dragging their feet on mitigating the spread within New York's jails and prisons (4m5s).
• Several US governors have faced criticism for their delayed responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Georgia's Governor Kemp, who claimed he only recently learned that people without symptoms could spread the disease, despite this information being widely known since February (4m30s).
• Alabama's Governor Ivey resisted calls for a statewide stay-at-home order, citing the state's differences from California and New York, but Alabama has a higher growth rate in coronavirus cases than California (5m41s).
• Florida's Governor DeSantis had one of the worst gubernatorial responses, suggesting he would only issue a statewide order if the president told him to, and even when he did issue an order, it included an exception for religious services, which was exempt from social distancing requirements (6m38s).
• The exception for religious services in Florida's stay-at-home order has been criticized as dangerous, as it allows large gatherings and overrides local authorities' ability to enforce social distancing measures (7m32s).
• The success of the US in containing COVID-19 is only as good as its worst governor, especially with the federal government abdicating responsibility, making it frustrating to see governors making decisions that put their citizens at risk (8m17s).
• The current crisis has shown that some elected officials are better managers than others, and it appears that certain individuals are content to sit back and watch the bad ones make decisions that will cost people's lives (8m45s).
• Jared Kushner seems to have a stockpile of empathy, but it's not being extended to anyone else, and it's unclear if he's wearing pants while working from home (9m7s).

Social Distancing and Working From Home

• The conversation shifts to the topic of social distancing and working from home, with some individuals admitting to not wearing pants while working remotely (10m1s).

Trump's Embrace of One America News (OAN)

• The main story of the night concerns the news media, specifically the fact that Trump has been holding a lot of press conferences recently and seems to enjoy calling on one particular media outlet, OAN (One America News) (10m30s).
• Trump's fondness for OAN is seen as a red flag, and the types of questions they ask during press conferences are scrutinized, with one example being a question about the president's approval ratings and whether there's a link between those ratings and the decision to carry the briefings live (11m42s).
• The question is criticized for not being designed to extract any useful information, but rather to make the president feel happy for a brief moment (12m7s).
• A correspondent defended President Trump's reference to the "Chinese virus" by comparing it to "Chinese food," stating that it's not racist since it originates in China (12m38s).
• The correspondent also claimed that major left-wing news media have teamed up with the Chinese Communist Party's narratives, labeling Trump's claims about the "Chinese virus" as racist (12m50s).
• The correspondent pointed out that major media players often cite foreign state propaganda and have direct access to the White House, which is alarming (13m2s).
• Trump has a love affair with OAN, repeatedly praising them on Twitter and preferring their coverage over other news outlets, including Fox News (13m32s).
• Trump's family, including Don Jr., also seem to be fans of OAN, with Don Jr. appearing on the network for a 15-minute interview during the pandemic (13m51s).
• In the interview, Don Jr. discussed binge-watching the show "Tiger King" and expressed surprise that tigers can be purchased for $2,000 (13m59s).

OAN's Hosts and Their Controversial Views

• OAN is a relatively small organization founded by conservative millionaire Robert Herring, but it has gained significant influence and is often called upon in the White House Press Room (14m52s).
• OAN is known for its extreme conservatism, with hosts like Graham Ledger making controversial statements about Black Lives Matter, transgender individuals, and immigration (15m6s).
• Graham Ledger starts his show with the catchphrase "the doors to The Newsroom are locked and the PC police are not getting in" and ends with the statement "even when I'm wrong, I'm right" (15m29s).
• Ledger's show is not actually archived in the Library of Congress, despite his claims, and the library has no record of receiving the show as a collection (15m55s).
• One America News Network (OAN) has a catalog of shows, including some with questionable content, and being listed alongside them would not be good company, even if one were included, which they are not (16m18s).
• OAN host Ledger has a catchphrase "even when I'm wrong, I'm right," which implies being shamelessly partisan and wrong at times, and it might be good that he specifies his rightness even in wrongness because he is wrong a lot (16m30s).
• Ledger tries to dismantle Bernie Sanders' rhetoric on unfettered capitalism, citing historical figures like Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, and Rockefeller, but his historical insight is questionable (17m6s).
• OAN's Chanel Rion, a White House reporter, asks questions that seem to be on nobody's mind, such as comparing coronavirus deaths to abortions, which is a rhetorical bad-faith argument (18m5s).
• Chanel Rion claims to be the best political illustrator in the country for constitutional conservative and anti-leftist causes, but her drawings, such as one of Rachel Maddow as a "wretched mad cow," are of poor quality (19m1s).
• Chanel Rion runs a word-of-the-day website called "Wordes: A World of Fine Words," which features artful tributes to floral language, but her about page contains empty self-promoting language (19m19s).
• Liz Wheeler, a big Trump favorite, can develop an argument, as seen in her 54-second spin on an aquarium's decision not to announce the gender of a baby penguin, turning it into a discussion on radical leftist gender ideology (20m1s).
• A chain argument is presented, suggesting that if gender roles are destroyed, it would lead to the destruction of traditional marriage, the family unit, and ultimately, people would become dependent on the government, which is allegedly the goal of liberals (20m39s).
• This argument is compared to another chain argument that implies if everyone has health insurance, no one would die, and therefore, historical events like World War II would still be happening, and the US troops would still be fighting, leaving the country undefended (21m14s).
• One America News Network (OAN) has given airtime to conspiracy theories, including a $100,000 reward for information on Seth Rich's murder and a multi-part series featuring Rudy Giuliani's investigations in Ukraine (21m51s).
• OAN has also promoted a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus might have originated as a bioweapon in a North Carolina laboratory (22m10s).
• The network is described as "Fox News with even less shame and even fewer scruples" and is heavily supportive of President Trump, often shifting from praise to fury if they are not constantly complimented (22m21s).

OAN's Influence and Promotion by Trump

• Despite being a relatively small and little-watched network, OAN's influence can grow quickly, and it is dangerous to ignore them, especially since President Trump is actively boosting their profile (23m1s).
• President Trump has promoted OAN's content on Twitter, including a video from last August, which is seen as unusual and overly supportive (23m30s).
• The White House Correspondents' Association revoked OAN's access to a seat in the briefings due to Chanel Rion repeatedly showing up on unassigned days, but she was allowed to return as a guest the next day (24m14s).

OAN's Dangerous Reporting During the Pandemic

• OAN's (One America News Network) reporting style is a problem, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it combines far-right talking points with poor reporting, which can be incredibly dangerous at a time like this (24m41s).
• Graham Ledger, a host on OAN, has explicitly called for Americans to defy the government's advice on social distancing, justifying his argument by saying he would rather die of COVID-19 as a free person than live like a slave to the government (25m6s).
• Ledger's show, "The Daily Ledger," is available in the archives of the Library of Congress, and he has a catchphrase, "even when I'm wrong, I'm right," which is seen as monumentally dumb (25m27s).
• Ledger's online presence is even worse, with a recent video showing him getting a haircut and framing it as a brave act of civil disobedience, comparing the current situation to Hitler's Germany or Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union (25m55s).
• Ledger's comparison to Hitler's Germany is inaccurate, as Hitler did not outlaw haircuts, and it's not essential for people to get haircuts, especially during a pandemic (26m35s).
• The misinformation spread by OAN and its hosts, including Ledger, can end up getting people killed, and it's essential to be on the lookout for their false information and ensure that others are not falling for it (27m12s).
• The White House is actively spreading OAN's message, making it more important than ever to be aware of their misinformation and to ignore their attempts to downplay the administration's ineptitude during the pandemic (27m20s).
• Chanel Rion, another host on OAN, is also mentioned as someone who is irresponsible and spreading misinformation, along with Liz Wheeler and Graham Ledger (27m59s).