John Oliver signed up to be a Donald Trump election observer

John Oliver signed up to be a Donald Trump election day observer

(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

published 15 August 2016

Even with Hillary Clinton facing the fallout from new State Department emails last week, John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, "as is always the case, she was eclipsed by the imploding star that is Donald Trump, the owner of what you might describe as 'resting rich face.'" For the 53rd week in a row, Trump was supposed to set his campaign right, starting with a scripted, boring economic speech in Detroit. "His campaign must have been pleased to keep him disciplined and on-message for an entire hour," but things devolved pretty quickly, Oliver said, running through Trump's accusing President Obama and Clinton of founding ISIS, doubling down on his statement, his just-kidding "it was sarcasm" tweet, and partial recanting of the sarcasm line. "What are you doing?!" Oliver asked. "You know that riddle where there are two people, one who always lies and one who always tells the truth? Donald Trump is both of those at once."

Moving on from Sphinx-like riddles, Oliver examined the "actually dangerous" suggestion by Trump that Clinton and the Democrats are going to steal the election from him, noting that Trump has a place to sign up to be "Trump Election Observers" on his website. "In a way, we are all Trump election day observers," he said, "because if you look out of your window in November and see Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you'll know, oh shit, they just called Florida." So you don't have to, Oliver signed on to be an observer, learning via a confirmation email that Trump and his team "are going to do everything we are legally allowed to do to stop crooked Hillary from rigging this election," a reply Oliver found troubling.

Oliver ended with a gleeful look at Trump playing with charts, and then the ambiguity a lot of comedians feel toward the Donald: "Look, I cannot wait for this campaign to be over, but part of me is going to miss him when he's gone." Watch below, but be warned that there is a bit of NSFW language. 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.