John Oliver was unusually brilliant in his show this week, in which he examined the scandals surrounding both campaigns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lfd1aB9YI&feature=youtu.be
Since few people will have the time to watch the entire 21 minutes, here's a summary with some of the best quotes:
· In the first half of this show, Oliver took an in-depth look, pulling no punches, at the two major scandals that have been plaguing Hillary, her emails and the Clinton Foundation.
· Oliver concluded: "We've spent several frustrating weeks trawling through all of the innuendo and exaggerations surrounding her email and foundation scandals, and the worst thing you can say is: they both look bad, but the harder you look, the less you actually find. There's not nothing there, but what is there is irritating rather than grossly nefarious."
· Oliver then pivoted in the second half of his show to look at Con Man Don's scandals. He continued: "And this is where it's instructive to compare her to her opponent, Donald Trump, America's wealthiest hemorrhoid. Because, if you are struggling with the idea of voting for Hillary because of all this, you need to take a long, hard look at Trump. If you're irritated by her lying, that is understandable. But he's quantifiably worse."
· Oliver then went on to highlight Trump's nonstop lying, refusal to release financial information or agree to put his assets in a blind trust if he's elected, the self-dealing by his foundation, the ongoing lawsuits against Trump University, his alleged use of undocumented workers to build Trump Tower, and an illegal $3.5 million loan from his father to bail out his failing casino.
· Oliver's brilliant conclusion:
The point is, this campaign has been dominated by scandals. But it is dangerous to think that there is an equal number on both sides. And you can be irritated by some of Hillary's. That is understandable. But you should then be fu*king OUTRAGED by Trump's. Think of it like this: ethical failings in a politician are like raisins in a cookie. They shouldn't be there. They disgust people. But most politicians have at least a few raisins, and Hillary is a cookie like this one [holds up a cookie with many raisins in it]. She arguably has more raisins than average – there's probably 10 of those little fu*kers in there. But we all need to remember that when it comes to Donald Trump, this is the amount of raisins that he represents [raisins begin pouring from the ceiling, covering Oliver's desk a foot deep]. The main is a fu*king raisin monsoon! He is ethically compromised to an almost unprecedented degree! So if you don't like raisins, I get it. They're disgusting. But unfortunately, this November, you're gonna have to swallow 10, or we're all going to be eating this sh*t for years! [Oliver picks up two handfuls of raisins and throws them toward the camera.]
Thomas Tilson, Ph.D.
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