Entertainment
John Oliver rips Trump for failed coronavirus response
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Last Week Tonight might look different this week, and that’s because John Oliver is officially working from the “blank white void full of sad facts” that is his home as a precaution due to the coronavirus outbreak. And that continues to be the subject of Oliver’s latest segment as…
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Last Week Tonight might look different this week, and that’s because John Oliver is officially working from the “blank white void full of sad facts” that is his home as a precaution due to the coronavirus outbreak. And that continues to be the subject of Oliver’s latest segment as he tears into President Donald Trump for his “irresponsible” and “failed” response so far to contain the spread.
Oliver highlighted how there are still Americans going to events like a “coronavirus party” and walking around outside. Maybe that’s because multiple pundits, politicians, and the president himself downplayed the coronavirus largely as a “hoax” before making an abrupt about-face. Trump went from tweeting about how America had the situation “very much under control” before going as far as likening himself to a “wartime president” who apparently knew the coronavirus was a pandemic before it was officially declared one — even though, as Oliver pointed out yet again, Trump got out of the Vietnam War draft for a suspicious bone spurs diagnosis.
“Again and again, Trump has failed to give this crisis the seriousness it deserves,” Oliver said. “This was always going to be hard, but it didn’t have to be this hard.”
The host then set his sights on various conservatives, including radio host Glenn Beck and Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick. Both seemed to urge those who are considered at “high risk,” specifically senior citizens, to sacrifice themselves for the economy, Oliver said. “You do realize this is not the Hunger Games, right? You can’t volunteer yourself as tribute. And, actually, what you’re doing is much darker. You’re actively volunteering others, including people of all ages with health conditions, to die.”
“And even if these guys are okay with letting the coronavirus kill as many people as it feels like so that the economy’s protected — which, again, really?! — there are, and I cannot believe I have to say this, significant drawbacks to hundreds of thousands of people dying,” he continued. “Hospitals will be completely overwhelmed, which means people suffering from things that aren’t the coronavirus also wouldn’t be able to get the treatment that they need, leading to even more people dying, which, to put this into the only terms they seem to care about, also tanks the economy.”
Watch in full above.
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