November 14, 2016

John Oliver Demands Americans Fight Against Normalizing Donald Trump

“He’s abnormal. He’s a human ‘What Is Wrong With This Picture?'”


As Americans continue to reel in the shocking reality that Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States, John Oliver dedicated the season finale of Last Week Tonight on Sunday to unpacking the election results and providing some guidance on how people can fight against some of the president-elect’s most alarming policies moving forward. The HBO host specifically warned viewers to resist the impulse to normalize the former reality star and “Klan-backed misogynist internet troll.”

“It is going to be easy for things to start feeling normal, especially if you are someone who is not directly impacted by his actions,” Oliver said. “So keep reminding yourself, this is not normal.” He then repeated a number of shocking campaign proposals Trump pledged to fulfill once in office, including the dismantling of Obamacare, the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, and much more.

“He’s abnormal. He’s a human ‘What Is Wrong With This Picture?'” Oliver added. “So giving him a chance, in the sense of not speaking out immediately against policies he has proposed, is dangerous.”

Oliver also leveled some harsh criticism at the media for enabling Trump’s candidacy and implored Americans to combat the wave of fake news that helped the former reality television star get elected.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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