John Oliver began Sunday's Last Week Tonight, sadly but predictably, with the weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where an apparent Nazi sympathizer killed one anti-racism protester and wounded scores more during a march by white separatists. Specifically, Oliver puzzled over Trump's condemnation of the violence "on many sides," without singling out the well-armed and organized group that came to Charlottesville looking for a fight and ending, collectively, with a murder.
"On many sides?" Oliver asked. "This was a white nationalist rally, you have to call that out by name. There aren't many instances in modern American politics where you can honestly think, 'That guy really should have mentioned the Nazis,' but this is emphatically one of them. It's like a reverse Godwin's Law: if you fail to mention Nazism, you lose the argument." Trump may have tried to distance himself from the white nationalists, but they did not return the favor; neo-Nazi groups gushed over Trump's non-condemnation and former KKK grand wizard David Duke said the marchers loved Trump, voted for him, and plan to carry out their plans in his name. "I've gotta say, David Duke and the Nazis really seem to like Donald Trump," Oliver said, "which is weird because Nazis are a lot like cats: If they like you, it's probably because you're feeding them."
Most people would try to "immediately and repeatedly disavow" such an endorsement, but Trump pointedly declined to on several occasions, in effect answer the questions with his non-answer, Oliver said. Which is really puzzling. "It simply doesn't get easier than disavowing Nazis, he said. "It's as much of a presidential gimme as pardoning a f---ing turkey. It is almost impossible to screw it up." Almost. Watch below. (There is NSFW language). Peter Weber
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