In the Season 3 finale of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” the show’s host lamented Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race and encouraged his viewers to financially support liberal groups like Planned Parenthood and “actual journalism” like The New York Times.
Oliver argued that Americans are “going to have to actively stand up for one another,” and that means more than “sounding off on the Internet” but rather an “actual sacrifice to support people who are now under threat.” Specifically, Oliver told his audience to dedicate time or money to various liberal groups.
If you’re concerned about women’s health, donate to Planned Parenthood or the Center for Reproductive Rights. If you don’t believe man-made global warming is a silly issue, donate to the National Resources Defense Council. If you don’t think refugees are a terrorist army in disguise, donate to the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Also, given these guys’ track record, I would also recommend donating to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Trevor Project for LGBT youth, and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Yes, John Oliver actually used his comedy show to request donations to these organizations. He advocated dedicating time and treasure to the notorious abortion group Planned Parenthood and its sister group the Center for Reproductive Rights.
To support women's health: Planned Parenthood (https://t.co/X5wWRvmZA4) or the Center for Reproductive Rights (https://t.co/Fmv3NDumck).
— Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
His suggestion that a Trump presidency would target the rights of black people seems particularly off-target. While David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, did indeed endorse Trump, and while the racist alt-right movement has gotten behind the president-elect, there is little evidence that he himself is racist, especially against black people.
He also has shown no negativity against LGBT people, besides standing up for religious freedom. The Trevor Project is entirely dedicated to preventing suicide, and this is indeed an admirable goal. The difficulty with such groups is that they often overlook any evidence against the LGBT ideology, which encourages people to identify with their same-sex attraction and gender dysmorphia in ways that can actually harm them even more.
In any case, Oliver revealed his own bias in praising President Obama. “For the last eight years, we’ve had a president we could assume would generally stand up for the rights of all Americans, but that is going to change now,” the late-night host declared, seemingly unaware of the IRS scandal targeting conservative groups.
While Oliver rightly pointed out Trump’s worrisome “attitude of punishing the press,” he told his audience to support “actual journalism — the Times or the Post.” While the host argued for subscriptions to these outlets, images of The New York Times and The Washington Post logos came on the screen.
Now, don’t get me wrong: Many of Oliver’s complaints about the media are warranted — too many TV stations just ran live footage of Trump rallies, and untrustworthy Internet sites do indeed push gossip-like political news with little truth and a big “wow” factor. Nevertheless, The New York Times is not the answer to these problems.
Next Page: You won’t believe what Oliver said about Mike Pence!
While The New York Times is America’s newspaper of record, it has a track record of embarrassing misreporting. For instance, the paper misidentified Aleppo in two different versions of the same article mocking Governor Gary Johnson for his infamous “What is Aleppo?” comment. This paragon of precise reporting ran an op-ed calling a major-party presidential candidate a “terroristic” “toddler.” The paper endorsed Hillary Clinton — the candidate who called Republicans her enemy — as “bipartisan.”
Oh, and it ran an op-ed attacking “Cards Against Humanity.” Like Oliver, the paper has allowed its political correctness to blind it — even to the humor of a “party game for horrible people.”
More insulting on a religious level is the paper’s many errors on Christian doctrine. America’s newspaper of record previously reported that Jesus is buried in a tomb (he rose from the dead), that Easter is about Jesus’ ascension into heaven (it’s about his resurrection), and that the biblical book of Romans calls for the execution of gay people.
On a side note, Oliver has also shown an utter inability to understand the other side of certain political issues. When explaining Donald Trump’s Supreme Court promises, he explained, “It sounds like you’re reading the to-do list on Satan’s refrigerator.” Is that meant to be funny? Seems about as humorous as Hillary’s “Basket of Deplorables.” Oh, that gets me every time.
Oliver signaled out certain conservative leaders for ridicule, including the legal scholar Ken Blackwell, whom Trump picked to oversee his domestic team, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute policy wonk Myron Ebell, a man-made climate change skeptic whom Trump picked to oversee the EPA transition.
Finally, the late-night host dumped on Vice President-elect Mike Pence — oh, I’m sorry, “Mike f***ing Pence” — as a leader from the benighted Puritan era. “He might look like he’s from the 1950s, but he thinks like he’s from the 1650s,” Oliver said, mock quoting Pence as saying that any woman who gets an abortion is a “witch” and must be burned.
Is this what passes for late-night humor these days? Blatant liberal pandering and little-veiled insults on every conservative position? This kind of close-mindedness is indeed one of the main reasons Trump won, and liberals seem not to have gotten the message.
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