John Oliver Feasts On Donald Trump’s Declaration Of War Against NFL
John Oliver kicked off Last Week Tonight describing a frantic week in which a “new and terrible” health care bill was pushed in the Senate, President Donald Trump called Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man” at the United Nations, and Robert Mueller’s Russia probe lurched ahead. But, “all hell broke loose” when Trump ended the week declaring war on professional athletes.
At his latest campaign rally, Trump told fans he’d love to see NFL owners say “get that son of a bitch off the field right now….He’s fired!” next time an NFL player kneels during the National Anthem performance. Our TV Ratings Forecaster In Chief urged viewers to boycott, and forecast lousy Nielsen ratings for Sunday’s games.
Responses to Trump’s remark included the mother of Colin Kaepernick, the player who started it all; she tweeted, “Guess that makes me a proud bitch.” And Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy tweeted, “It’s really sad man…our president is an asshole.”
Also in response to Trump’s rhetoric, many more players kneeled during anthem at games on Sunday, Oliver noted. And, even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denounced POTUS’ comment. “When you have lost the moral high ground to Roger Goodell something is horribly wrong,” Oliver pointed out.
Fox News Channel’s Jeanine Pirro defended Trump, and Oliver actually agreed with her point that nobody wants to hear about politics from pampered millionaire football players. “You only want to hear about them from an abject failure of a prosecutor who somehow let Robert Durst slip though her fingers,” he added.
He also spent time torching Trump’s HHS Secretary Tom Price over his unnecessary use of private jets at a taxpayer cost of about $400K to date. Also, the use of government planes for non-government reasons by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin whose appearance, Oliver pointed out, “provides the answer to the question, ‘What if Income Inequality dressed up as me, John Oliver, for Halloween.”
Mnuchin’s rannygazoo includes requesting use of a government plane as he and his new wife honeymooned, though the request was withdrawn, Oliver said. By week’s end, both scandals seemed almost “nostalgically quaint,” he observed.
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