John Oliver put Florida governor Ron DeSantis is the crosshairs of his main segment on Sunday night, tearing who he dubbed “Business Fred Flintstone” to shreds. According to the “Last Week Tonight” host, DeSantis really isn’t that much better than twice-impeached former president Donald Trump in any way.
To kick off the segment, Oliver gave what amounted to a SparkNotes version of DeSantis’ life and career, mocking everything from his participation in the Little League World Series, to his purported dating tactics, to his new book.
“By the way, I have a little gift for our studio audience. Look under your seats, the gift is — it isn’t there!” Oliver joked. “You don’t have to read it! You’re welcome.”
But getting into the meat of the segment, Oliver honed in on the claims that DeSantis is “Trump with a brain.” The host just doesn’t believe that’s true, let alone helpful when it comes to people deciding who to vote for.
“It’s like saying, ‘That new restaurant is better than this chicken pot pie that fell on the sidewalk,’” Oliver mocked. “Sure it is, but you’re not really giving me much useful information there. So, if I may quote Tom Brady’s publicist while reviewing his old golf photos, let’s take Trump out of the picture. And tonight, let’s examine DeSantis on his own merits.”
That said, Oliver couldn’t find many merits for “Meatball Ron” — Trump’s new nickname for DeSantis that Oliver was particularly thrilled with — because what he’s done for Florida is “sometimes less than he claims, sometimes less than his critics claim, and sometimes worse than you may know.”
Oliver then tore apart a recent advertisement created by DeSantis and his team based on “Top Gun,” which DeSantis’ camp called “Top Gov.” In it, DeSantis is shown teaching new “recruits” how to deal with the media, showing clips of how DeSantis himself has “never ever [backed] down from a fight.” In one clip, DeSantis seemingly stops a reporter from giving “a speech” during a press conference.
But, as Oliver pointed out, “DeSantis is constantly complaining about the media taking him out of context.” But in that particular clip, “he’s removing some pretty important context from the media.”
Oliver then showed the full exchange, which shows DeSantis cutting off the reporter before she could ask her question in its entirety, then yelling at her when she respectfully asks to finish what she was saying, claiming she did finish her question.
“No she didn’t! And all she’s asking you for is some basic accountability,” Oliver exclaimed. “When you see that in context, that’s a pretty gross case of someone meatball-splaining to a journalist, who’s just trying to do her f—ing job!”
As the segment continued, Oliver tore apart DeSantis’ legislation throughout Florida, as well as his treatment of the LGBTQIA community, children and more. In the end, Oliver concluded that DeSantis will “probably come out well” when being compared to Trump, “more or less by default.”
“But that cannot be the bar here. It is important to consider DeSantis in his own right,” Oliver implored. “If Donald Trump never existed — and let’s just all pause, and enjoy that hypothetical, just for a second — if Donald Trump never existed, and you were forced to learn about Ron DeSantis from scratch, with no basis for comparison, what you would see would justifiably horrify you. Because you’d be discovering a petty autocrat and a bully.”
You can watch the full segment from “Last Week Tonight” in the video above.