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.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate