John Oliver takes a steely look at U.S. system for selecting presidential nominees, pleads for reform

John Oliver pleads for reforms to the system of primaries and caucuses
(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took a long, hard look at the byzantine system of primaries and caucuses America uses to pick its presidential candidates. And maybe it takes an Englishman to explain just how crazy the American system is. Oliver touched on the ongoing race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and the brouhaha at the Nevada Democratic convention, but that's not what his report is proximately about. He started with some history.

In the years after the riotous 1968 Democratic convention, when party leaders picked Hubert Humphrey, "both parties reformed their processes to give their rank-and-file members more of a say, but many of the details were left up to state leaders — which might help explain why we have such an erratic clusterf--k every four years," Oliver said. "Almost every part of this process is difficult to defend." He specially cited the Democratic process in Washington State and GOP decision to assign at-large delegates in Pennsylvania. "If Dancing With the Stars had a system where instead of voting directly for Paige VanZant or Ginger Zee, you had to vote for Doug or Karen to vote on your behalf, neither of whom will tell you which dancer they prefer, there would be riots in the streets," he said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.