John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

“No outcome is certain.”


On Last Week Tonight‘s final episode before Election Day, John Oliver reserved the opening monologue of his show to urge voters to cast their ballot and deny Donald Trump the American presidency.

“We are at a point where this man has a genuine shot at the presidency,” Oliver said. “Despite having blown up a political party, undermined confidence in our electorate system, declared open season on journalists, and unleashed a river of racism and misogyny. Also I feel like we’ve lost sight of this—he has really stupid hair.”

The HBO host recalled a more innocent time when the possibility of a Trump candidacy was a laughing matter, before flashing back to an eerie clip from his Daily Show days where he jokingly urged Trump to run for president. (“Do it. Look at me. Do it. I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president but badly wants you to run.”)

Oliver wants to believe Americans will eventually reject Trump on Tuesday. But the aforementioned clip, along with his previous claim that the Chicago Cubs could never win the World Series, proves that “no outcome is certain.” So get out the vote.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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