‘No Longer an Active Threat?’: John Oliver tearfully said what we all think about Donald Trump
John Oliver’s pre-election Last Week Tonight show was always going to be emotional, but fans might not have expected him to get so close to tears.
Oliver gave a 14-minute speech during his Sunday show. He explained that, although Kamala Harris had “issues,” she would be getting his vote. This probably came as no surprise to anyone, considering how critical Oliver has been of Trump.
While Oliver hadn’t focused much on Harris’s actual policy proposals during previous shows, he said there was a reason for that: “Picking apart policy proposals when the alternative is Trump is like debating which color to paint the living room when your house is on f***ing fire.” And then he tackled one of the biggest issues of the election: Harris’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war, which has killed over 44,000 people so far. President Biden and Harris have supported Israel despite their genocidal behavior, and this has caused widespread fury among those who otherwise would have voted Democrat.
“I know there are some who won’t vote for Harris under any circumstances because of this issue,” Oliver said. “But for what it’s worth, I’ve been moved by some Muslim and Arab voices who’ve also wrestled hard with this question and arrived at the conclusion, despite their pain, to vote for Harris.” He explained that Trump is the bigger danger to Palestinians and Muslims right now.
Harris herself made a statement on Gaza on Sunday. Speaking at a rally in Michigan, she talked about “the scale of death and destruction in Gaza [and] the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon” and vowed that if she was elected, she would, “end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination.”
Oliver then said something a lot of young voters have been thinking. “I know this isn’t inspiring to hear, but politics isn’t always inspiring. It’s transactional. It rarely matches our greatest hopes and dreams.”
He went on, “I’ll be honest, I really didn’t want the first vote I cast as an American citizen to be for Joe f***ing Biden, but here we are.” It was a brutal bit of honesty, but it was followed up with an inspirational idea.
“Look, I love this country. I’m an immigrant. I chose to be here. In the words of the late, great Lee Greenwood: I’m proud to be an American,” Oliver said as tears welled up in his eyes. “And I’d argue there is nothing more American than having a healthy, adversarial relationship with those in power, even if you voted for them.”
He concluded his speech with what was arguably an even more inspirational idea: the prospect of never hearing from Donald Trump again. “There’s one final thing I’m going to be genuinely excited for on Tuesday, and that is if Donald Trump loses this election, he’s basically finished,” he said. “I know—the problems that he’s a symptom of would of course remain, but we wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where he’s no longer an active threat, just an annoyance?”
Oliver is right—it really would be great to live in a world without the threat of Donald Trump. With less than 24 hours to go until election day, many Americans are desperately crossing their fingers that that reality comes to pass.
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