OAN recycles Trump “tribute” video from an Infowars contributor who cheered on the insurrection
Written by Bobby Lewis
Research contributions from Ryan Masri
Published
On February 11, One America News, an unflappable ally to former President Donald Trump, aired a “tribute to his accomplishments” set to somber piano music and the poem If— by Rudyard Kipling. The video was credited to Harrison Hill Smith, an Infowars contributor who cheered on the “patriots” storming the Capitol on January 6th.
OAN anchor Lilia Fifield dutifully announced that “despite endless lies and attacks from Democrats and the media, President Trump and the administration fought for the country over the past four years,” leading into the video using a poem about stoicism to honor the emotionally unstable ex-president. The top right of the video has a credit for the Infowars contributor, who also previously promoted his video on Infowars.
Smith’s Twitter account is full of the anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other bigotries one would expect of an Infowars figure, according to The Austin Chronicle. Smith also pinned a November 2020 upload of the video to his account, and used OAN’s airing of the video this morning to promote the Infowars store.
On the day of the insurrection, Infowars founder Alex Jones was in Washington, D.C., but Smith hosted part of the regular Infowars broadcast from a studio. He excitedly said, “This is not a drill. … This is incredible. … Attempts to prevent the onrush of patriots [have] failed.” Smith praised the insurrection with revolutionary fervor, declaring, “The American people have shrugged and taken the blows on the back without so much of a whimper in protest. But finally, they have pushed too far, after stealing our last resort. … Now the rage of the American people overflows as patriots storm into the United States Capitol.”