‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Addresses Dayton and El Paso Shootings, White Nationalism and Anti-Immigrant Hysteria Under Trump
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Before John Oliver began his regularly scheduled “dumb show” about doghouse foreclosures and turnip subsidies on Last Week Tonight, he took some time to address the shootings that have occurred in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Tex.
“When it comes to gun control, I know it can feel like it everything has been said before,” he said before going down a laughable rabbit hole of explanation. “In fact, even pointing out everything been said before has been said before in facet even pointing out everything has been said before has been said before has been said before.”
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He continued, “While the depressingly familiar numbness that you may be currently feeling help you handle the pain in the short term, in the long term it can be a really big problem unless something hurts as much as it’s supposed to, nothing gets done about it and something has got to be done here — not just about guns.”
Oliver points out that the act of terrorism and shooting in El Paso is being investigated as a hate crime and that the shooter’s manifesto included anti-immigrant language that has been heard from certain cable networks and “certain presidents”. And by that, he is referring to Donald Trump.
“White nationalism and anti-immigrant hysteria did not start with this president, but he certainly seems to have created an environment where those kinds of views can fester and indeed thrive,” said Oliver.
He then played a clip of Trump at a rally in Florida just three months ago where he was “deliberately winding up a crowd” by showing them an image of 15,000 immigrants marching towards the southern borders. After he asked, “How do you stop these people?” someone in the crowd said, “shoot them!” This was met with an ovation from his MAGA followers and Trump, with a smirk, responded, “That’s only in the panhandle you can get away with that statement!” This was followed by more cheers.
Oliver begins to unpack the clip — as if there were anything to unpack. He said that it’s not only the panhandle where you can get away with that statement. “You can get away with it all over the country,” he remarks adding that Trump made it painfully clear that you can get away with that statement in any room the actual president is in. Oliver said its “absolutely appalling and that is something we cannot afford to get numb to. If that ever becomes normal…we are completely f*cked.”
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