John Oliver says Hillary Clinton’s scandals pale in comparison to Donald Trump’s
The late-night host called Trump “ethically compromised to an almost unprecedented degree.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lfd1aB9YI
Coming off a month-long hiatus and a recent Emmy win for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, John Oliver was in rare form during Sunday’s Last Week Tonight. He spent the episode before Monday night’s presidential debate providing an in-depth look at the scandals that have dogged both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton this election season.
His conclusion? Clinton’s scandals — from the ethical questions surrounding the Clinton Foundation to her handling of classified emails while serving as secretary of state — are far outweighed by Trump’s.
“This campaign has been dominated by scandals,” Oliver said. “But it is dangerous to think that there is an equal number on both sides.”
“You can be irritated by some of Hillary’s [scandals] – that is understandable,” Oliver continued. “But you should then be f***ing outraged by Trump’s.”
Oliver devoted the first half of his show to examining the issues surrounding Clinton, from Whitewater to the Clinton Foundation. In the 11-minute segment, the host said that, though the does find a lot to fault Clinton for, his conclusion mirrors that of the countless government investigations into Whitewater, Benghazi, and her emails: There’s smoke, but no fire.
“We’ve spent several frustrating weeks trolling through all the innuendo and exaggerations surrounding [Hillary’s] email and foundation scandals, and the worst thing you can say is: They both look bad, but the harder you look, the less you actually find,” Oliver said. “There’s not nothing there, but what is there is irritating rather than grossly nefarious. And this is where it’s instructive to compare her to her opponent: Donald Trump, America’s wealthiest hemorrhoid.”
Oliver spent less time on Trump, mentioning Trump’s disproven excuse for not releasing his tax returns, the allegation that Trump Tower was built in part by undocumented workers, the ongoing lawsuit against Trump University, and the illegal $3.5 million loan his father gave him through the purchase of casino chips. The main focus, however, was The Washington Post’s investigation into the Donald Trump Foundation, which found that while Trump has not given money to the Foundation since 2008, he used money donated by others for his own personal means, including $258,000 to settle lawsuits against his companies, $20,000 for a portrait of himself, and $12,000 for an autographed Tim Tebow helmet.
In the end, Oliver compared Clinton and Trump’s ethical failings to raisins in a cookie, in that “they shouldn’t be there.”
“Most politicians have at least a few raisins, and Hillary is a cookie like this one,” Oliver said, holding up an oatmeal raisin cookie. “She arguably has more raisins than average.”
“But we all need to remember that when it comes to Donald Trump, this is the amount of raisins that he represents,” Oliver continued, as thousands of raisins rained down on him. “The man is a f***ing raisin monsoon. He is ethically compromised to an almost unprecedented degree.”
https://gifs.com/gif/scandals-last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver-hbo-xk35mq
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