John Oliver judges who had a worse India trip: Don Jr. or Canada's Justin Trudeau?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited India last week, and it didn't go well, John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. First, he was snubbed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then he faced some blowback over his ostentatiously Indian wardrobe choices. "It's not just me who found it over-the-top," Oliver said, playing part of an interview with an Indian fashion designer. "Oooh, 'a cheap Bollywood movie' — that is a solid Z from Indian Tim Gunn," he laughed. "Trudeau's visit turned out to be the most unwatchable white person's trip through India since The Darjeeling Limited. But Trudeau was actually lucky, because his trip was overshadowed by a visit from Donald Trump Jr." (There is some NSFW language.)
"What brought America's greatest living Donald Trump to India?" Oliver asked. "Was it a profound sense of wanderlust, or did, perhaps, a trash pile of sh-tty condos need unloading? I won't keep you in suspense." The Trump Organization flooded Indian newspapers with ads touting Trump's visit, and they were "pretty misleading," Oliver said, "because when you say 'Trump has arrived,' people naturally assume you mean the president of the United States, not Don. Jr. It's like if Ed Sullivan went, 'Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles,' and then the studio was just overrun by beetles."
Don Jr. started out his trip by somehow flubbing a "softball interview," Oliver said. But setting aside glib condescension, "the actual substantial problem with this trip was the ethical questions that it posed," since condo buyers were promised access to the president's son. "I will say this in Donald Jr.'s defense," he conceded. "It may be difficult for him to sell access to his father's inner circle because, as he revealed during that fireside chat, he doesn't seem to be anywhere near it." (Yes, there is NSFW language in this one, too.) 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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