John Oliver partially blames himself for the rise of Donald Trump
The late-night host surfaced an old clip of him begging Trump to run for office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XndcZgxxXPs
With the presidential election now only one day away, John Oliver devoted the opening minutes of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight to once again skewering Donald Trump and his campaign.
“We are at a point where this man has a genuine shot at the presidency despite having blown up a political party, undermined confidence in our electoral system, declared open season on journalists, and unleashed a river of racism and misogyny,” Oliver said. “Also, and I feel like we’ve lost sight of this: He has really stupid hair.”
But Oliver also admitted that he was at least partly responsible for Trump’s unlikely rise.
“It is frankly hard to believe there ever was a time when people thought a Trump candidacy would be funny, but there was such a time,” Oliver said. “As you may remember, three years ago I guest-hosted The Daily Show. And, there is something you should see.”
Oliver then cut to a 2013 Daily Show clip in which he adamantly begged Trump to run.
“Do it. Look at me: Do it,” Oliver said, staring intently at the camera. “I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president, but which badly wants you to run.”
After enduring groans from the Last Week Tonight crowd, Oliver said that he wanted to believe that America would reject Trump on Tuesday, and that the country’s “innate sense of decency will kick in like some sort of moral autopilot.” But to remind viewers that even the most unlikely outcomes are possible, he then played a clip from a 2008 Daily Show episode in which he decisively said the Cubs would “never, ever win the World Series.”
“I’m an idiot,” Oliver said. “But that clearly shows no outcome is certain. So if you are thinking you don’t have to show up to vote on Tuesday because there is no way the impossible could happen, take it from somebody who has learned from painful experience: You are wrong about that.”
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