John Oliver blasts ‘egomaniac’ Donald Trump for leaving Paris Agreement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5scez5dqtAc

On Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver devoted 20 minutes to lambasting President Donald Trump for his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

Oliver began by playing a portion of Trump’s speech announcing the move, in which the president claimed that other countries cheered when the agreement was signed in 2015 because it put the U.S. “at a very, very big economic disadvantage.”

“What are you talking about?” Oliver said in the segment. “They were happy because they secured a landmark victory for the future of the planet, you f****** egomaniac. The whole world is not simply conspiring against the United States.”

Oliver also brought up the elected officials, both abroad and within the United States, who have attempted to shame Trump for his decision.

“It’s true, the only penalty was shame,” Oliver said. “And unfortunately, this president is completely immune to the very concept of shame.”

Oliver highlighted the strongly negative response from some of the U.S.’s biggest companies. A group of 25, including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, spent money on advertisements decrying the decision. Nearly half of America’s Fortune 500 companies, including cigarette producer Philip Morris, have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and companies like Walmart and Bank of America have pledged to completely power themselves with renewable energy in the future.

“That’s right,” Oliver said. “This is a story where Walmart, Bank of America, and Philip Morris end up being the good guys.”

Oliver concluded the segment by pointing out that the criticism of Trump’s decision has been so universal, it may finally compel Americans to take climate change seriously.

“Apparently, it was never quite enough to motivate ourselves out of love for this large, gassy orb,” Oliver said, a photo of the earth appearing to his left. “But maybe we can bring ourselves to do something out of our loathing of this one.”

At that point, the photo of the earth changed to one of Trump.