If you think Fox News is the most loyal network to President Donald Trump, you likely haven't heard of One America News Network, or OAN.
The unabashedly pro-Trump network—largely considered a far-Right fringe outlet—has enjoyed expanded viewership over recent years thanks to glowing reviews from the President.
It's even been added to the prestigious White House press pool.
People were reminded of the network's bizarre Trump-era ascension during Monday's White House press briefing regarding the pandemic that—at the time of this writing—has resulted in over 3,000 deaths across the United States.
OAN's White House correspondent Chanel Rion compared the growing number of deaths from the pandemic to abortion procedures, asking Trump if abortions should be suspended all together.
The question flummoxed Trump himself.
Watch below.
Trump calls on OAN, and the OAN person asks a loaded question that pushes a false equivalency between coronavirus deaths and abortion. Trump basically dodges it. pic.twitter.com/5Y5y85OQPv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 30, 2020
Rion said:
"2,405 Americans have died from [the virus] in the last 60 days. Meanwhile, you have 2,369 children who are killed by their mothers through elective abortions each day. That's 16 and a half thousand children killed every week. Two states have suspended elective abortion to make more resources available...Should more states be doing the same?"
Even Trump seemed confused by the question, and notably didn't wade into the abortion aspect of the question:
"I think what we're doing, we're trying to, as a group ,governors—and that's Republicans and Democrats—we're just working together to solve this problem. What you're mentioning has been going on for a long time and it's a sad event, a lot of sad events in this country. But what we're doing now is working on the virus...and I think we're doing a great job—as good a job as you can possibly do."
People noticed that even Trump—either purposely or otherwise—didn't take the bait from one of his favorite networks.
Rion, who is Asian-American, previously made headlines when she asked Trump—who'd been criticized for describing the virus as "Chinese Virus"—if the phrase "Chinese food" was racist.
Her questions, while satiating viewers who prioritize "owning the libs" over potentially lifesaving information, have only confirmed the degradation of the press corps under the Trump era.
OAN's only redeemable quality? It doesn't claim to be "fair and balanced."
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
