On Sunday evening, John Oliver opened the latest episode of his Emmy-winning series Last Week Tonight by addressing President Trump’s week of palling around with dictators who poison journalists and princes who dismember journalists with bone saws.
This week “was a big one for Trump and diplomacy—two words that go together like ‘fire’ and ‘Chicago 1871,’” joked Oliver.
First came the G-20 summit in Osaka where, as the late-night host explained, “Trump was overseas this week meeting with his favorite authoritarians. He joked with Putin about meddling in U.S. elections, called Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman ‘a friend of mine.’” If that weren’t enough, “just this morning [Trump] popped across the DMZ to North Korea with Kim Jong Un, while seemingly being thrilled that he’d been invited over.”
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He then threw to a clip of Trump seated awkwardly next to the North Korean tyrant, with Trump saying, “It’s just an honor to be with you… it was an honor that you asked me to step over that line, and I was proud to step over the line. I thought you might do that—I wasn’t sure—but I was ready to do it. And I want to thank you. It’s been great.”
“Oh, that’s actually nice!” Oliver exclaimed. “So Trump wanted to step over the line, was ready to do it, but waited until he received affirmative consent. What a refreshing change of pace for him! Maybe Trump’s mantra going forward should be: Treat women with the same respect you show murderous autocrats. He’s growing! Good for him.”
That last dig was surely a reference to writer E. Jean Carroll’s rape allegation against Trump—making her the 22nd woman to accuse the president of sexual misconduct.
