John Oliver on Donald Trump: 'A bully in the White House'
The Last Week Tonight host discussed ‘a week full of foreign policy flip-flops’ including the president’s military strikes
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Monday 17 April 2017 17.16 BST Last modified on Monday 17 April 2017 18.45 BST
John Oliver took aim at Donald Trump’s “week full of foreign policy flip-flops” as he discussed the president’s military strikes.
Saturday Night Live review – Jimmy Fallon's monologue misses mark An elaborate song-and-dance number had no place in the cold open, but the Tonight Show host redeemed himself with a couple strong skits later in the show Read moreOn his HBO show, Last Week Tonight, the host detailed the much-criticized Fox interview with Trump, where he spent time talking about the dessert he enjoyed as the US military decided to launch a missile strike in Syria.
“Only Donald Trump could use a conversation about missile strikes in the Middle East to advertise the cake at Mar-a-Lago, which, by the way, you might want to think twice about trying because it was reported just this week that the club’s kitchen was cited for 13 health violations, for, among other things, fish that had not undergone proper parasite destruction and storing ham at 57 degrees,” he said. “Because nothing says upscale dining like lukewarm ham with a side of tapeworm.”
Oliver then played footage of the president changing his mind about Nato, an organization he had called obsolete on his campaign trail, but one that he now considered worthwhile.
“It is incredibly annoying how long it took Donald Trump to reach a
conclusion that everyone else had already reached. It’s like a
flat-Earther finally admitting the Earth is round. Yes, you are finally
right but I’m still mad at you that you ever believed that shit in the
first place.”
It was one of many about-turns Trump made in the past week, and Oliver wondered how his fanbase would take yet another reversal. “It’s like getting tickets for The Vagina Monologues but on the night you went, it starred Brian Dennehy,” he said.
Reportedly, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, also changed Trump’s mind on the relationship between his country and North Korea in just 10 minutes. “The president seems to change his mind based on any information that is new to him, which seems to be almost any information,” he said.
Oliver questioned the use of the phrase “mother of all bombs” in the press this week, joking: “We’ve finally reached a point where mothers can be bombs too – #mombombs #feminism.”
Trump also admitted that the strike was the result of a military decision and did not need his authorization. He said in an interview that he had given the military complete control over any decisions that are made.
“You may think that’s good, you may think that’s bad, but I would not expect Trump to curb that power anytime soon because, as we talked about last week, this is a man who responds to praise and yet again, he’s been praised for this,” he said, before examining the excitable Fox News reaction.
Oliver played footage of Geraldo Rivera and said: “Fuck you, Geraldo, I hope your mustache gets caught in a box fan.”
The pundit detailed why the strike was a great thing, using an old story about how Trump needed to act like a schoolyard bully.
Oliver said: “This is why bullying never works. If you have a bully in school, there’s a good chance he’s turning some kid into the next Geraldo Rivera. If you have a bully in the White House, he does violent, impulsive things that seem to be inching us closer to, among other things, potential nuclear war with North Korea – and if that happens, it’s going to take a fucking amazing piece of chocolate cake to help us forget about it.”