John Oliver says Donald Trump’s Republican convention was all ‘feelings over facts’
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”/HBO/YouTube
John Oliver weighed in on the Republican National Convention on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” and concluded that it felt as if it emphasized “feelings over facts.”
“The Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the most apocalyptic thing ever to happen to that city,” the host introduced the event. “And bear in mind, their river has repeatedly caught fire.”
He then played a montage of convention speakers who touted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s business acumen. Oliver said they were contradicted by the reality of the situation.
“Now, before you laugh, you cannot say Donald Trump is not a visionary,” the host said. “For a long time, he was the only one who envisioned himself as a presidential nominee. He is basically what happens if ‘The Secret’ gets into the wrong hands.”
He then explained how the whole idea of Trump’s superior business skills was “somewhat undercut by the fact the entire convention was a mismanaged s—show.”
He pointed to Melania Trump’s partially plagiarized speech; Ted Cruz’s speech, in which he didn’t endorse Trump’s candidacy; and the fact that Trump tweeted that he had known that Cruz wasn’t going to endorse him, yet still let his opponent speak.
“That’s not reassuring,” Oliver said. “If the captain of the Titanic had tweeted after the fact that ‘I saw that iceberg two hours before and sailed into it anyway. No big deal!’ You wouldn’t think, ‘Wow, that captain sure ran a tight ship.’”
Oliver’s biggest problem with the RNC speakers and Trump was that they asserted things during their speeches that weren’t grounded in reality.
“[The RNC] was a four-day exercise in emphasizing feelings over facts,” he said. “This focus on feelings reached its apex in Donald Trump’s acceptance speech, which was light on concrete policy but heavy on provoking strong emotions.”
After showing clips from Trump’s speech, the host exclaimed, “Holy s—! He sounds like he’s about to announce the first annual Hunger Games.”
After which, Oliver pointed out, “It is worth noting that since President Obama took office, crime rates, the flow of illegal immigrants flowing over our borders, and unemployment benefits have all declined. And yet frighteningly, when reporters started pointing that out, it didn’t seem to matter.”
Watch Oliver’s take on the RNC below:
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