The Last Week Tonight host critiqued the president’s notorious press
conference and his false claims about Sweden’s terrorist attack
Guardian staff
Monday 20 February 2017 10.21 GMT Last modified on Thursday 23 February 2017 21.48 GMT
John Oliver continued his criticism of president Trump, focusing on his domination of the news cycle by making apocryphal statements, saying: “You can’t avoid talking about him.”
“Trump dominates the news cycle like a fart dominates the interior of
a Volkswagen Beetle,” he said at the start of his Sunday night show. He
then pointed out that Trump’s false claim that Sweden had suffered a
terrorist attack this week had eclipsed genuine stories such as the
death of Kim Jong-un’s half brother.
Oliver added that Trump’s admission that he got his statement about the non-existent terror attack from Fox News, means that “sifting through Trump’s brain to see why he said something is now like examining a shark’s stomach to see what it ate.”
“Here’s where we’re at right now: Trump can dominate the news merely by referencing something that didn’t happen in Sweden,” he added.
Trump’s notorious news conference on Thursday was described as “batshit crazy” by Oliver, who said: “A presidential press conference elicited the same reaction you get from people who have just seen someone shoot fireworks out of his arse.”
'Here’s where we’re at right now: Trump can dominate the news by referencing something that didn’t happen in Sweden'
John Oliver
The president’s exchange with the reporter April Ryan, who he asked to set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus after she asked Trump a question about the group, was also picked apart.
“The man is incredible because what hits you first there is the racism of assuming that all black people are friends,” Oliver said. “But then it’s not until later that you really appreciate the sexism of thinking that all women are there to perform secretarial tasks for you.”
“You can’t avoid talking about him,” Oliver continued. “In the past week alone, he has designated the media as enemy of the people, put an EPA-hating nominee at the head of the EPA, lost his nominee for Labor Secretary and his national security adviser and signed a bill undoing Barack Obama’s protections waterways from coal mining waste.”
John Oliver on Trump and the truth: 'a pathological liar' Read moreThe Last Week Tonight host also critiqued Trump’s laissez faire approach to the Israeli Palestinian peace process after he said he’d consider a one-state solution or “the one that both parties like”. “The whole problem is the people on each side who want a one-state solution generally cannot agree on what state it should be,” said Oliver.
There was also criticism of the media who gave rolling coverage to
Trump’s rally in Florida on Saturday, which Oliver called “pointless”
and filled with “boilerplate Trump: the media is fake, Chicago is a
nightmare, I’m the greatest.”