John Oliver has long joked about Donald Trump and how bad a second term would be, but on Sunday night’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” — the final episode before the election — the HBO host got very serious, his voice even cracking from emotion at one point.
For the duration of the show, Oliver zeroed in on Trump’s business ventures, and yes, largely making fun of them and the people who are involved with them. But, to close out his show, he got serious, admitting that he’s talked less about Kamala Harris on the show, albeit for a “pretty clear reason.”
“This could come down to a handful of votes in a handful of states,” he said. “And given that, I’ve been thinking ‘What am I going to be feeling on Wednesday? And is there anything I’m gonna wish I’d said right now?’ So that is what the rest of this is gonna be.”
From there, the host made it explicit that, while he doesn’t align with Harris on every piece of her platform and policy proposals, he is voting for her, “and I think you should too.”
He particularly appealed to undecided voters in swing states like Michigan, conceding that it makes sense why they’re struggling to commit, and slamming Harris for sending Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail “to basically scold” them. But, the host argued, Harris can at least be pushed by voters once she’s in office — Trump can’t.
“Look, I love this country. I’m an immigrant. I chose to be here,” Oliver said, at which point his voice broke from emotion. “In the words of the late, great Lee Greenwood: I’m proud to be an American. And I’d argue there is nothing more American than having a healthy, adversarial relationship with those in power, even if you voted for them.”
Oliver also grew wistful at the idea that, if Trump loses, he’ll be “done” for good, with legal battles and age catching up to him. Meanwhile, he argued, Harris is at least moving in the right direction for the country.
“Here is how I look at it. The struggle for justice isn’t just about what happens on Election Day,” he said. “It’s a fight waged constantly, day in, day out, in protests on the street, meetings with legislators and in the thousand small actions that cumulatively move the government forward an inch at a time.”
