John Oliver went to town on Donald Trump for his controversial comments on Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a slain U.S. soldier who made headlines after Khizr Khan delivered a powerful speech, criticizing Trump, at the Democratic National Convention.
“Trump hasn’t said one crazy thing, he’s said thousands of crazy things, each of which blunts the effect of the others,” said Oliver, likening that to standing on one nail versus a bed of nails. He pointed out how Trump can say anything in his campaign “seemingly without consequences” but “even with that caveat, his response when asked about that speech from Khizr Khan stands out.”
Oliver played Trump’s response, which was to claim that Khizr’s wife Ghazala “probably, maybe wasn’t allowed to have anything to say” when she stood beside her husband as he gave his speech at the DNC.
“For a start, his wife explained that she chose not to speak because she gets too upset when she sees images of her dead son’s face, you f—ing asshole,” said Oliver.
He then turned to Trump’s answer in response to being asked about sacrifices, which was all about the jobs he’s created, which Trump insists are sacrifices.
“No they are absolutely not,” said Oliver, whose wife is an Iraq war veteran. “They are self-serving half-truths from a self-serving half-man who has somehow convinced half the country that sacrifice is the same thing as success.”
“Honestly, the main takeaway from these two weeks is that, incredibly, we may be on the brink of electing such a damaged, sociopathic narcissist, that the simple presidential duty of comforting the families of fallen soldiers may actually be beyond his capabilities ? and I genuinely did not think that was a part of the job that someone could be bad at,” continued Oliver.
Earlier in the segment, Oliver played Khizr Khan’s emotional speech, in which he pulled out a copy of his pocket U.S. Constitution and offered to lend it to Trump.
“That is an American founding document inspirationally being used as a middle finger,” said the Last Week Tonight host. Oliver said he was very moved by the part of the speech when Khan says Trump has “sacrificed nothing, no one.”
“That engendered in me a level of emotion that I did not think was possible after 16 months of this depressing campaign and 39 years on Earth as a British person,” said Oliver.
For the rest of the segment, Oliver commented on the Democratic National Convention and its speakers, calling Tim Kaine a “human sweater vest” and Joe Biden a “Soul Cycle instructor” and said Hillary Clinton’s speech was basically a promise to “micro-manage the shit” out of the Oval Office.
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