John Oliver shows how the world is laughing at Trump's America, offers a star-struck immigrant's defense

John Oliver defends America
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Last Week Tonight)

Last Week Tonight returned from its winter hiatus on Sunday night, and John Oliver's main topic was President Trump — again. "But tonight we'd like to do it from a slightly different angle," he said, "and that is focusing on his relationship with the world." It isn't good. Oliver did a brief survey of Trump insulting other countries, from his "shithole" slur on Africa, Haiti, and El Salvador, to his revealing excuse for retweeting anti-Islam videos from a British fringe group.

"That is exactly his attitude: If it wasn't big where I could see it, then it wasn't big," Oliver said. "So forget foreign affairs — Trump may not have mastered object permanence, which you really need to be a president, or even a good f---ing baby." But "the world continues to exist whether Trump acknowledges it or not," he said, focusing on a few "basic questions": "What is Donald Trump's foreign policy," "how is his approach to the world going," and "what are the consequences"? The short answers are "America First," horribly, and America is losing to China.

Oliver spent some time on Trump's promise that the world would stop laughing at America if he were elected. "If anything, the world is laughing harder than ever before," he said, showing Trump impersonators and world leaders making fun of Trump around the world. Still, there's nothing funny about the leadership vacuum America has left in the world.

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"It seems like America's reputation overseas is under attack from its own president — which is just ridiculous," Oliver said. "Soft power is an act of salesmanship, it's selling your brand — it is the one thing that Trump is supposed to be good at, and he's f---ing blowing it. So as an immigrant who has fallen in love with this country, for what it's worth, please allow me to speak to the rest of the world in America's defense for a moment." There is some NSFW language throughout. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.