One America News Network host Pearson Sharp didn’t flinch as he delivered the somber news to camera: Radical Democrats had “overthrown” the election, and the punishment for traitors is death.
“What are the consequences for traitors who meddled with our sacred democratic process and tried to steal power by taking away the voices of the American people? What happens to them?” Sharp mused to camera, in a clip flagged by The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer.
“Well, in the past, America had a very good solution to dealing with such traitors: Execution.”
The monologue offers a chilling glimpse at what appears to be a growing comfort with violence from far-right platforms like OAN and their viewers. Sommer noted that members of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement had gleefully circulated the clip online, seeing it as “proof that the mass executions are right around the corner.”
At least one OAN viewer uploaded footage of themselves cheering on the call for killing their political opponents. “They get hung!” the viewer shouted after Sharp asked about the punishment for traitors.
The monologue only grew more explicit as Sharp went on.
“There have been numerous indications that foreign governments, including China and Pakistan, meddled in our election to install Joe Biden as president,” Sharp said. “Any American involved in these efforts, from those who ran the voting machines to the very highest government official, is guilty of treason under U.S. Code 2381, which carries with it a penalty of death.”
After listing several federal offenses — including sedition and insurrection — Sharp cut to clips of prominent Democratic lawmakers, implying they were to be next on the chopping block. (Sharp subsequently told TPM in an email: “Those clips were merely included as evidence of government officials apparently calling for the overthrow of Trump’s presidency. No violence is intended towards them, or anyone else.”)
One clip showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) several years ago, speaking about the Trump administration’s family separation policy, though OAN left out context that would have made that clear.
“I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country,” Pelosi said. “Maybe there will be.”
Then, Sharp cut to a 2017 clip of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), when she said in a speech, “I will go and take Trump out tonight.” Waters later said she was talking about impeaching Trump, not physically harming Trump.
“Espionage is covered too,” Sharp said after the Waters clip, referencing Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
“The bottom line is that no one, absolutely no one, is above the law,” Sharp concluded. “And let this be a warning to anyone who thinks they are. The consequences are clear, and those responsible will be brought to justice for their role in undermining America’s democracy.”
This post has been updated.
