John Oliver urges conservatives to condemn Trump’s Charlottesville response: ‘Say his name’
August 22, 2017 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
While some observers think Steve Bannon’s Friday ouster from the White House could be a turning point, John Oliver doesn’t see it that way.
“The truly depressing thing about Steve Bannon’s departure is how unsatisfying it is,” he said Sunday on “Last Week Tonight.” “One panderer to white nationalists has left the White House, but the one he was working for is still very much there.”
In case there was any doubt, he was referring to President Trump, who on Tuesday once again suggested an equivalence between the white nationalist protesters who gathered in Charlottesville, Va. last weekend and the counter-protesters who opposed them. One of the counter-protesters, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed.
Oliver focused on the Republican politicians and conservative pundits, many of whom he claimed were eager to distance themselves from such overt displays of racism yet unwilling to condemn Trump by name.
“You can mention him, he’s not Voldemort,” Oliver said. “The problem with not mentioning him is that it suggests that he is somehow not a key part of the problem here.”
According to “Last Week Tonight,” only 54 of nearly 300 congressional Republicans specifically denounced Trump — or roughly 20%.
Commentators, such as Fox News host Melissa Francis, also got defensive about their refusal to disavow the president.
“If you’re getting emotionally overwhelmed and feeling judged for defending Trump in his Nazi-sympathizer phase, stop… doing it,” Oliver said. “It’s that simple.”
Inspired by the lyrics of Destiny’s Child, Oliver urged Republicans to “say his name, say his name, go right onto Fox News, say, ‘Donald, I condemn you, if you ain’t running game.’”
Watch the full segment here.
