West Virginia Republican Senate candidate Don Blankenship is the former CEO of Massey Energy, a role that landed him in jail for a year when he was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws leading up to the deadly 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine, John Oliver recapped on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. "And if you think he would want to steer away from any talk of what I just said in his ads, think again." In fact, he added, "if Blankenship wants to distance himself from that mine explosion, it frankly doesn't help that he talks about it all the time," blaming his incarceration on an "Obama judge" and "Obama prosecutors," and vowing to run against not just Democrats but the GOP Senate majority leader.
"He called Mitch McConnell 'Cocaine Mitch,' which is a far more badass name than this man deserves," Oliver said, and referred to McConnell's father-in-law as "a 'wealthy Chinaperson,' which on one hand is pretty racist, but on the other hand, it's also impressively gender-neutral. So maybe that should be his campaign platform: 'Don Blankenship — Bringing racism into the 21st century.'"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster showSpeed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top GrammysSpeed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own roomSpeed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
