John Oliver shakes his head at Donald Trump's glib nuclear proliferation advocacy


John Oliver's look back at last week's news on Sunday's Last Week Tonight included the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington and its conspicuous no-show, Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Even without Putin, there were plenty of issues regarding nuclear weapons to talk about," Oliver noted, "especially the fact that two days before they gathered, America's potential next president mentioned that he would be perfectly comfortable with other countries becoming nuclear powers, including Japan and South Korea."
That is a divergence from decades of consensus on nuclear nonproliferation, and also would violate Japan's constitution, but Trump wasn't done. He also wouldn't rule out using nukes in Europe, and thinks it's fine to give Saudi Arabia the bomb. "It was clearly extremely important that the president try to reassure the rest of the planet by providing some context for Trump's remarks," Oliver said, and Obama's scorching clarification was so wry and calmly delivered you wonder if Oliver planned the entire bit around it. Watch below. Peter Weber
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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.
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