After an Emmy Award-winning season, "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver finally aired its final episode of the season, and it ended with a huge bang. Every week, the show takes on various issues from Multilevel Marketing to floods, and even from coal mining to Alex Jones. But Oliver saved his season-ender for something big, and that of course, the Trump Presidency.
"I know the prospect of talking about Trump again feels exhausting," admitted the funnyman as he started out his discussion of the topic. But Oliver then pointed out that people have to talk about it because it "pulls you in, whether you like it or not." He then talked about a few of Trump's moments as president, most of which were quite controversial.
But the real talking point about his presidency is the fact that he is breaking the norms of how politicians usually engage with their constituents, and in turn, how it affects how we engage with one another. He pointed out that because of how Trump does things, getting Trump can be so "hopelessly futile." He then showed a transcript of one of Trump's speeches, which proved how incoherent he is. But even with this incoherence, people still find it hard to pin him down. Oliver then talks about three of the techniques he uses to get away with what he's doing.
Trump's attacks on the media and calling them fake news
The first technique is the most obvious, and this usually pertains to Trump calling negative press against him, as well as legitimate news agencies, as "Fake News." John Oliver calls this technique, "Delegitimizing the Media," which Trump has used to great effect.
"He's been waging war at the very concept of truth," Oliver said.
But while Trump was doing this even before he became president, his position as the US Head of State changes things dramatically. Oliver then discussed the usual argument for Trump supporters that he's not the first one to attack the press, as Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama have done it before.
This then led the comedian to talk about Trump's second technique.
Whataboutism
As John Oliver describes, "Whataboutism is the practice of changing the subject to someone else's wrongdoing." The biggest example of which was Trump's failure to condemn the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville right away. Trump didn't really condemn the alt-right, but shifted the blame to what he called the "alt-left."
The Emmy Award-winning host then talked about the technique itself, which was used by the Soviet Union in shifting the blame to others.
This technique is dangerous because, according to Oliver, "it implies that all actions, regardless of context, share a moral equivalency. And since nobody is perfect, all criticism is hypocritical and everybody should do whatever they want." He then pointed out that you see this technique in Trump's favorite news network, Fox News. The funnyman then explained that the point of this technique isn't really about winning the argument, but it's about muddying the waters.
Trump is one big online troll
The third technique Trump usually utilizes is trolling. This technique doesn't really do anything but get a reaction or hurt people's feelings. "Trump may well be the first ever troll to be elected president," Oliver joked.
He then pointed out a few things Trump tweeted, which he used to troll them. The "Last Week Tonight" host then called Trump a "d*ck" for his trolling.
However, Oliver pointed out that this trolling has major value, especially for his supporters. He said that angering his opponents counts as a "victory" for this troll president, and that is something. Oliver then discussed that Trump will then just shrug these trolling allegations off, much like how he shrugged off his fake claim that Obama "wiretapped" his phones in Trump Tower. When asked to clarify his wiretapping claims, the president gave some very vague answers.
In the end, Oliver pointed out how these techniques help distract us. "Their natural endpoint is the erosion of our ability to decide what is important, have an honest debate, and hold one another accountable," the host pointed out.
