John Oliver unforgettably previews Mexico's election and its Trumpean, Bernie Sanders–like frontrunner

John Oliver preview Mexican election
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Last Week Tonight)

Mexico shares with the U.S. "a 1,900-mile border, and they're our third-largest trading partner — and something massive is about to take place there," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, previewing next Sunday's landmark national elections. Sure, "the biggest election in Mexico's history" may not "mean much to most Americans — it's like saying the biggest mattress sale in Dutch history," he said. But Oliver, being Oliver, made his rundown entertaining, informative, and a little disturbing.

Mexicans are sick of the status quo and their current president, Enrique Peña Nieto — Oliver repeated the NSFW chant Mexicans have for him, in English and Spanish — and they are expected to go in a radically different direction, electing populist firebrand Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, commonly known by his initials, AMLO.

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"The point here is, while the hope in AMLO is real, the content is a question mark," Oliver said. "And it says something about how entrenched the problems in Mexico are and the level of dissatisfaction that they seem so willing to take a gamble on him." Bobby Moynihan's autoerotic Santa Claus is one of the many NSFW parts of this episode, but if you're game, watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.