Look out Fox News, President Donald Trump has a new, right-wing media suitor and its gushing coverage of the White House is now attracting both attention and affection from the country’s cable-news-fan-in-chief.

In a new profile, The Daily Beast examines the upstart cable channel (also known as OAN), and how its over-the-top, pro-Trump institutional bias looks to be a strategic attempt to woo viewers who deem Fox News — as hard as this may be to believe — insufficiently loyal to the president.

“For years, the channel has tried to supplant Fox  as a dominant force in conservative media and the preferred news network of the Trump administration. It has prolifically churned out glowing coverage of the administration and its achievements over the past two years. OAN’s top executives have beseeched the president on Twitter to forget about Fox and to signal-boost them instead,” the story reports.

This aggressive recruitment became obvious back in March when, in a fit of pique on Twitter, OANN “call[ed] bullshit” when Trump failed to positively name-check it during a Michigan campaign rally. The network even called itself one of the president’s “GREATEST Supporters.” The sycophantic tweet has since been deleted.

“The overt flattery seems to be paying off,” The Daily Beast noted. “Fox News is still the president’s favorite media behemoth. But OAN’s team has been catching his eye. This year, Trump has tuned in more often than ever to OAN, two sources close to him say.”

Also, helping, the network’s willingness to indulge and promote numerous conspiracy theories that neatly align with White House talking points.

“Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson accuses United Kingdom Intelligence of helping Obama Administration Spy on the 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign.” @OANN WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

This increased attention for OAN also comes amid a period when Trump has leveled pointed criticism at Fox News, for, among other things, temporarily suspending talk show host Jeanine Pirro —  one of Trump’s favorites — and hosting several town halls with Democratic presidential candidates.

Also, congratulations to @OANN on the great job you are doing and the big ratings jump (“thank you President Trump”)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

However, the president’s newfound interest in another right-wing cable network, like many things Trump, is also a cross between a head fake and a mind game, according the story. “The president’s embrace of OAN,”  it notes, “was in part done to make the Fox News brass jealous, with the source comparing the situation to showing off a new girlfriend.

Screengrab via One America News Network.

from Mediaite http://bit.ly/2EB5eNS