John Oliver tears into Donald Trump for attacking family of fallen American soldier
The HBO host warned viewers that we are dangerously close to electing a “damaged, sociopathic narcissist.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCnjlTfXDw
Following the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump spent the weekend criticizing the family of a Muslim American soldier who died in 2004 while serving in Iraq.
Trump was responding to a speech made at the DNC by Pakistani-born Khizr Khan, who questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution, and said that, unlike his son, Humayun, Trump had never sacrificed anything.
In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump assailed the family’s convention appearance, asking whether Hillary Clinton’s team had written the speech for Khan and saying his wife, Ghazala, was “probably, maybe” not allowed to speak.
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver wasn’t about to let Trump’s comments fade away without getting his two cents in, blasting Trump for letting his ego get in the way of honoring a soldier who gave his life for America.
“The main takeaway from these two weeks is that, incredibly, we may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may actually be beyond his capabilities,” Oliver said. “And I genuinely did not think that that was a part of the job that someone could be bad at.”
Oliver followed up by rebutting Trump’s claim that Khan’s wife “probably, maybe wasn’t allowed to have anything to say”
“For a start,” Oliver said, “His wife has explained that she chose not to speak because she gets too upset when she sees images of her dead son’s face, you [expletive].”
Then Oliver queued up a clip where Stephanopoulos asked Trump to respond to Khan’s assertion that he hadn’t sacrificed anything.
GS: “He said you’ve sacrificed nothing and no one.”
DT: “Well that sounds… who wrote that? Did Hillary’s scriptwriters write it?
GS: “How would you answer that father? What sacrifices have you made for your country?
DT: “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard, I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures, I’ve had tremendous success…”
GS: “Those are sacrifices?”
DT: “Oh sure, I think they’re sacrifices.”
“No! No, they are absolutely not,” Oliver said, as the clip ended. “They are self-serving half-truths from a self-serving half-man who has somehow convinced half the country that sacrifice is the same thing as success.”
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