John Oliver says winning and losing are both terrible for Donald Trump, offers brilliant third option

Last Week Tonight is taking a month-long break, meaning that when John Oliver returns to the air, there will be only six weeks left before Election Day. So on Sunday's show, he ended, apologetically, with a plea to Donald Trump disguised as an escape hatch. This moment in the campaign "feels like a fork in the road for Trump," Oliver said. "He's either hitting bottom, from which he'll rebound to victory, or it's the beginning of the end." Neither option is good for Trump, he argued.

"Obviously, losing would be disastrous, because his entire brand is built around not doing that," Oliver said, and losing to Hillary Clinton, specifically, "wouldn't just be off-brand, it would be brand-destroying. And he knows it." But Trump resetting his campaign, coming from behind, and winning, he added, "that's even worse for him, because then he actually has to run the country."

Oliver addressed the rest of his segment to Trump himself: "I would like to propose to you a third option, and that is: drop out. Simply drop out, and tell America this entire candidacy was a stunt, a satire designed to expose the flaws in the system — and the thing is, you could actually make a fairly decent case for that." Oliver ticked off four "good points" Trump has already made during his otherwise dumpster fire of a campaign: America's campaign finance system, media, and base-pandering politicians are all deeply flawed, "but perhaps most powerfully of all, Mr. Trump — Don, Donathan — you didn't just expose the flaws in our political system, you exposed the flaws in us."

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He suggested what kind of speech Trump could give, even handing him the blueprint — a 1996 YA book, with parts read aloud by Will Arnett, that "is your way out from two equally unappealing scenarios." Oliver invited post-candidate Trump on his show, and made this promise: "If you drop out in order to teach America a lesson, you would not be a loser, you would be a legend!" Watch below, but be warned — there is decidedly NSFW language. Peter Weber