John Oliver Blasts the President’s Coronavirus Response, Bill Barr to Break Down Why it’s Time For Trump to Go

With less than two days until Election Day, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight was set up a bit differently on Sunday. Although the host usually tackles one main story, this week Oliver had two: The coronavirus and Attorney General William Barr. 

The host’s overarching theme? Why it’s time to vote President Donald Trump out of office on Tuesday, November 3.

Oliver blasted Trump for claiming to have done a “tremendous” job handling the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to stats —  such as the fact that the U.S. has four percent of the global population yet 20 percent of the world’s coronavirus cases — to imply otherwise.

“In the years before this outbreak, Trump’s administration not only disbanded Obama’s pandemic team, they also cut CDC operating within China by more than two-thirds and ended a pandemic early-warning program,” said Oliver. “And even once the pandemic had begun, Trump took an appallingly long time to take it seriously.”

He also showed clips of Trump allies saying that the president has done the best he can do with the situation he has had to deal with.

“Is he?” Oliver questioned. “I guess that depends doesn’t it? Is he doing the best that any president can or the best that he can? Because if it’s the second one, you may actually be right. We should all be grateful that he hasn’t bottled his urine and started selling it as ‘Trump Immunity Juice’.”

He then broke down three “crucial” areas that Trump has failed to handle the coronavirus: preparation, coordination, and communication.

He noted that while George W. Bush formed a pandemic response plan in 2005 and Barack Obama created a pandemic team — the Trump administration cut the CDC staff in China by more than two-thirds, ended a pandemic warning program, and actively worked to dismantle Obama’s team.

In terms of coordination, the Trump administration failed to obtain and distribute the necessary supplies, like PPE, leaving medical professionals to deal with the issue.

“Trump has repeatedly undermined public messaging from the very start despite the fact that as we now know, he knew extremely early on just how bad things could get,” Oliver later said of his failure to communicate.

The host then took on Barr — whom Oliver predicted will be “more dangerous” if Trump wins a second term.

“He gives radically conservative views, the veneer of seasoned legal analysis, delivering utter nonsense while hiding behind Whoopi Goldberg glasses,” Oliver said.

The host also noted that Barr strictly denies that there is systemic racism in police departments just to help advance Trump and has even bragged about beating up protesters while in college.

“Look, I don’t need to tell you just how important Tuesday is. If you haven’t voted already, please do so. I did. I voted in my first presidential election just this morning,” he confessed. “For what it’s worth, it was inspiring, unexpectedly moving, and I did get this free sticker, so that’s just not nothing. Thank you so much for watching this show, and we will see you next week, at which point I truly hope that we’ll all be feeling slightly better.”

Watch above, via YouTube.