Last Week Tonight segments about Donald Trump

Not to be confused with Donald Trump (Last Week Tonight).

Donald Trump became the subject of segments featured in episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver during Trump's Republican primary and general election campaigns, most of which were discussed in the show's opening news recap segment (the election-centered segments were introduced by Oliver with increasingly bizarre "also known as" titles referencing the increasing discourse of the Presidential campaign over the election cycle, such as the "Clowntown Fuck the World Shitshow 2016", "Uncle Sam's Rock-Bottom Yankee-Doodle Suicide Pact 2016" and "What Did I Do to Deserve This? I Always Tried to be a Good Person, Is This Because I Stole Candy Once in 4th Grade, Please Stop Punishing Us 2016").[1]

"Donald Trump"

"Border Wall"

In much of a subsequent segment that aired on March 20, 2016, three weeks after the original episode aired, Oliver talked about Trump's proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico, although the description of the segment uploaded to the show's official YouTube channel mentioned "Donald Drumpf's" plan to build the wall.[2] In that episode's main segment, titled "Border Wall", Oliver explained some details of his criticism of Trump's border wall idea, examines the inconsistent estimates of the proposed wall's construction cost, and criticizes Trump's proposal to have the Mexican government pay the cost of building the wall.[2][3][4][5] Oliver estimated that the wall would cost $25 billion, not the $4 billion that Trump originally estimated it would cost, and that maintenance costs would exceed $25 billion within seven years of the wall's construction.[3][4][5]

He also examines the feasibility of the wall due to a 1970 international treaty between the two countries that prohibits structures that may obstruct water flow from being built along the Rio Grande and Colorado River basins. Oliver cites the example of an existing border fence that had to be built several miles inland on the Texas side of the border – resulting in the fence having to cross onto the grounds of a Brownsville golf course – because of the law, and legal implications stemming from the fence's construction.[2] He also points loopholes that may be used for migrants and drugs to enter the country illegally despite the wall's presence. At the end, Oliver shows research that dispute claims inferred by Trump that most migrants residing in the U.S. largely entered illegally from Mexico and that the rate of violent crimes committed by immigrants were higher than those by American citizens.[6][2]

"Trump University"

In part of another subsequent segment on June 5, three months after "Donald Trump" first aired, Oliver talked about Trump's business tactics at Trump University. Oliver says that the 3,500 lawsuits that Trump has been involved in, would exceed the combined number of episodes of most of the attorney-centered drama series that have been produced in the history of American television. He then comments on how Trump said that Gonzalo P. Curiel (the Indiana-born presiding judge for the lawsuit centering around Trump University) should recuse himself due to his Mexican heritage.[7][8] Oliver then examines the Trump University lawsuit, and the issues that culminated in the lawsuit filing (including the tactics used in recruiting students for the real estate training program).[8][9]

"Sarcastic Trump"

Headshot of presidential candidate Donald Trump, wearing a suit and behind a microphone
Donald Trump in 2015.

In part of another subsequent segment on August 15, Oliver examined remarks by Donald Trump, who during the previous week had made the suggestion that supporters of the Second Amendment could stop opposing Democratic Party Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton from enforcing gun control policy proposals (an open-ended remark widely considered as suggesting violence against Clinton, but downplayed by Trump and many of his Republican surrogates to suggest his supporters should take political action against her) and claimed that President Barack Obama and Clinton were "the founder[s] of ISIS," citing in the latter that Obama's decision to reduce the number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq in 2013 created a governance vacuum that led to the radical Jihadist terror group's rise (although the U.S. military reduction did play a factor in its development, ISIS traces its origins to 2004, one year after the Iraq War began under the partial guidance of Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, as an Iraq-based arm of al-Qaeda). Oliver said that in response to criticism of Trump, Trump had replied, "Obviously I'm being sarcastic ... but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you."[10][11]

In calling out that Trump's attempt to clarify the remark as sarcastic and Trump's repeated walking back of that justification days later, Oliver described Trump's statement as "bullshit" and a "douchebag's apology" and stated that trying to rationalize Trump's campaign is "like watching a circus seal fold laundry".[10][11] Oliver also called Trump's sarcasm "absurd", and joked about Trump's claim that Clinton was a co-founder, saying by using the show's recurring social media gag, "Hashtag #Feminism, hashtag #IsisWithHer". He also criticizes Trump's suggestion that the election would have been rigged against him if Clinton wins the electoral college and popular vote in Pennsylvania in the November 8 general election (no Republican Presidential candidate has won Pennsylvania since 1988) and enlist his supporters to become observers to prevent electoral manipulation, arguing that it could set a dangerous precedent if his supporters question the validity of the votes and could result in intimidation tactics towards Democratic-leaning voters.[10][12]

"Message to Donald Trump"

In part of his August 22 episode, Oliver discussed Trump's ranking in the polls for the preceding week and the changes in his campaign staff, including the installation of Kellyanne Conway as his campaign manager following the resignation of Paul Manafort upon the disclosure of his ties to the Russian government. Oliver argued that these events were either "[signals that Trump's campaign was] hitting bottom from which he will rebound to victory" or "the beginning of the end".[13]

Oliver then examined Trump's options: losing to Hillary Clinton, whom a majority of Americans did not find trustworthy in several opinion polls at percentages almost equal to Trump, and risk destroying his own brand in part because of his rhetoric and repeated controversies during the campaign cycle; or resetting his campaign and getting elected President. Oliver argued that the latter option would be even worse for Trump than losing the election, as then he would have to be burdened with the responsibilities and realities of the position and be miserable about it.[13] Oliver then devoted the remainder of the segment by speaking directly to Trump, restating these two options and how both outcomes would be negative for him. Oliver proposed a third option for Trump, which would be to drop out and demonstrate how his whole campaign was "a satire designed to expose the flaws in the system".[13] Oliver then pointed out how Trump had exposed four particular flaws: campaign financing in American politics, sensationalism in the media, how prominent Republicans have stood by his controversial stances at the risk of their own political careers, and how voters have embraced him for said stances regardless to their opinion of his divisive remarks and policy proposals pertaining to immigrants and Muslims.[13] Oliver then argued that were Trump to drop out, he would be a legend and there would be a federal holiday in Trump's honor named "Guy Who Decided Not to Be President's Day". To demonstrate how this would work out, Oliver cited the 1996 Dan Gutman children's book The Kid Who Ran For President.[13] With the assistance of Will Arnett, Oliver demonstrated that many aspects of Trump's personality and campaign resemble those of the book's title character, Judson Moon. In particular, Oliver suggested that Trump plagiarize the resignation speech given by Moon after he is haphazardly elected President of the United States in dismay that voters took his joke candidacy seriously, which Oliver would argue is a "perfect Trumpian address" and "kind of a thing for [Trump's] campaign". Oliver then invited Trump to read that speech on his show.[13]

"Trump's Lewd Remarks"

The election recap segment of the October 9 episode touches upon an outtake from a September 2005 Access Hollywood segment released by The Washington Post two days earlier, in which Trump inferred to then-host Billy Bush that his celebrity status gave Trump parlance to make inappropriate sexual advances with women (including grabbing their genitalia without permission). Recalling a comment he made in a segment from the previous week's episode about Trump's broadcast interview and social media attacks on Alicia Machado – whose claims of public fat-shaming by Trump after a weight gain that followed her 1996 crowning as Miss Universe was cited by Hillary Clinton as a key example of his negative views on women in the September 26 Presidential debate – that if one were to look "above the clouds, [they would see] rock bottom," Oliver states that Trump's remarks in the Access tape had sunk the Presidential campaign to the point of "breaking through the Earth's crust, where drowning in boiling magma will come a sweet, sweet relief".[14][15][16] He also briefly blasts Bush for going along with Trump's remarks, as well as former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski's diversionary hypothesis in a CNN phone interview that Clinton may have expressed statements identical to those Trump made in the tape in her speeches to Wall Street banking institutions (excerpts of which were leaked in a broader stream of emails purported to have been hacked from the email accounts of Clinton's campaign staff that WikiLeaks began publishing on October 7, when the tape was released).[16][14][15]

Oliver then excoriates members of the Republican Party that continued to support Trump as the party's Presidential nominee despite his prior controversial statements and various remarks that offended racial and religious minorities during the course of the campaign to avoid jeopardizing their chances of re-election by alienating Trump's supporters, only for the remarks to force them to rescind endorsements or distance themselves from Trump because of the risk to their re-election by more moderate Republicans and other voters offended by the footage, saying that their outrage would only be justified if "[they] were cryogenically frozen until Friday afternoon, and that Access Hollywood tape was the first thing [they] saw upon being re-animated"; Oliver also questions the move of several male Republican Senate and House members to frame their outrage about the comments on behalf of their female relatives. After noting that it would be impossible for the Republican National Committee to drop Trump as the nominee so close to the November 8 general election, since early voting had already commenced in some states, he closes the segment equating the appropriateness of Trump (whom Oliver describes as "the human embodient of every backwards, condescending Mad Men-esque boys' club attitude that has ever existed, rolled into one giant, salivating, dick size-referencing, pussy-grabbing warthog in a red power tie") being Clinton's political opponent – given his past remarks about women – to that of Trump serving as the final boss in a computer game that she must defeat to complete the goal of becoming the first female U.S. President.[16][14][15][17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Joseph D. Lyons (October 17, 2016). "7 Painfully Accurate Ways John Oliver Has Described This Election". Bustle. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 John Oliver (March 20, 2016). Border Wall. HBO. Retrieved March 27, 2016 – via YouTube.
  3. 1 2 Chris Lee (March 21, 2016). "John Oliver Demolishes Donald Trump's Wall In 18 Minutes". Fortune. Time Inc. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Alex Garofalo (March 21, 2016). "Donald Trump Border Wall Slammed By John Oliver On 'Last Week Tonight'". International Business Times. IBT Media. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "John Oliver takes Donald Trump's border wall plan seriously, unfortunately for Trump". The Week. The Week Publications. March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  6. ↑ Keri Blakinger (March 21, 2016). "Oliver dumps on Trump's wall plans on 'Last Week Tonight'". New York Daily News. News Corp. OCLC 9541172. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  7. ↑ Brent Kendall (June 3, 2016). "Trump Says Judge's Mexican Heritage Presents 'Absolute Conflict'". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  8. 1 2 John Oliver (June 6, 2016). Trump University. Last Week Tonight (HBO) John Oliver. Retrieved August 16, 2016 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Jason Guerrasio (June 6, 2016). "John Oliver investigates the suspect business tactics at Trump University". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 John Oliver (August 14, 2016). (Last Week Tonight) John Oliver — Trump new claim on Obama and Clinton (August 14th, 2016). HBO. Retrieved August 16, 2016 – via YouTube.
  11. 1 2 Ryan Reed (August 15, 2016). "Watch John Oliver Call Donald Trump's Apology 'Bulls--t'". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  12. ↑ Melissa Locker (August 15, 2016). "Sarcasm Expert John Oliver Calls Out Donald Trump's Sarcasm". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Oliver (August 22, 2016). John Oliver Asks Donald Trump to Drop Out of Presidential Race 22.08.16. HBO. Retrieved September 14, 2016 – via YouTube.
  14. 1 2 3 Ross A. Lincoln (October 10, 2016). "John Oliver Tears Into Donald Trump & Billy Bush Over Hot Mic Controversy". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 Tom Huddleston, Jr. (October 10, 2016). "John Oliver Rips into Donald Trump over Lewd Tape". Fortune. Time Inc. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 Marlow Stern (October 10, 2016). "ON BLAST: John Oliver Tears Apart GOP for Enabling 'Pussy-Grabbing' Trump". The Daily Beast. IAC. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  17. ↑ Nigel M Smith (October 10, 2016). "'This is on you': John Oliver ridicules Republicans over Trump groping tape". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
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