John Oliver and Stephen Colbert discuss whether Donald Trump could happen in Britain

When John Oliver was last on Stephen Colbert's Late Show in the fall, he did not care about Donald Trump. Now, he does, grudgingly. In fact, Colbert noted on Monday's show, Oliver dedicated an entire 20-minute segment on his own HBO show to deflating the Donald Trump legend, ending by hawking a "Make Donald Drumpf Again" hat, a reference to Trump's ancestral name. "We sold 35,000 of these," at cost, Oliver said. "Which, you can imagine, HBO found hilarious. What's funnier than not making any money on an unexpected, inexplicable hit?"

Oliver tried to interview himself in the first part of his sit-down with Colbert, but then Colbert stopped him with a question: "Could Trump happen in England?" Or would the parliamentary system make a Trump candidacy impossible? "It's not that it could happen," Oliver said. "It has happened. We had many kings in the past." He noted that both Trump and 18th century monarchs love gold. But Colbert had the math: About 35 percent of GOP voters back Trump, and 40 percent of the electorate is Republican, so Trump has only about 12 percent support in America.

"Unfortunately, that's an incredibly meaningful 12 percent," Oliver said. Ah, but it wouldn't be in British Parliament, Colbert said: It would just be 12 percent. "I feel like I was in a poli-sci class just now," Oliver said, but he agreed — and went back to his theory that Trump is more a wannabe king than president. Watch below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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