On Sunday night, John Oliver kicked off the latest edition of Last Week Tonight by joking about how Fox News and the right-wing media have decided to pretend like the ongoing Jan. 6 congressional hearings aren’t happening.
“The House committee investigating Jan. 6 held its first primetime hearing, prompting a crisis for conservative media. Fox News opted not to air it at all, and OAN went one step better: airing a tribute to Trump instead featuring this exquisite transition to commercials,” explained Oliver.
He then threw to a clip of OAN anchor Pearson Sharp during the network’s “Trump: Legacy of a Patriot” special saying, “You have inspired countless millions and shown our nation what it truly means to Make America Great Again. From One America News, I’m Pearson Sharp.” OAN then segued to a commercial for RexMD.com touting “generic Viagra delivered within 48 hours in discreet packaging” to your mailbox.
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After that, the host focused on the heated Senate race in Arizona for a seat occupied by Democrat Mark Kelly, which could shift the balance of power in the Senate. Trump recently chose to endorse Blake Masters, a venture capitalist and Peter Thiel acolyte whose campaign’s been funded by $10 million in Thielbucks.
“If you think his name alone makes him sound like a third-tier Bond villain, wait until you hear about his everything else, because Masters is a Peter Thiel-backed self-described ‘conservative nationalist,’ and since Trump’s endorsement things have started to surface about him,” said Oliver.
One of those things was an appearance he made in April on “The Jeff Oravits Show” podcast, where Masters said, “We do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it’s gang violence. Right? It’s gangs, it’s people in Chicago, St. Louis, shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly.”
“OK. Blaming Black people for gun violence in America is outrageously uncreatively racist, but also it’s unsurprising from someone who—and this is true—was called an ‘immigration patriot’ by the white nationalist website VDARE, which praised him saying he ‘checks all the right boxes.’ He’s an immigration patriot who checks all the white-supremacist boxes just isn’t what you want to hear about a man running for office. You don’t even want to hear it in a Sex and the City voiceover.”
Oliver continued: “Masters also embraces a national abortion ban, has questioned whether Jan. 6 was set up by the FBI, and then there is this interview in which he chooses the exact wrong answer to the softball question of: Who is a subversive thinker who’s underrated?”
He then aired a clip of Masters on the podcast “Subversive with Alex Kaschuta” where he answered that question by saying, “I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this. I’d say… how about Theodore Kaczynski? Probably not great to be talking about the Unabomber while campaigning.”
“Yeah… probably not!” exclaimed Oliver. “Also, I’m sorry, Theodore Kaczynski? What are you? His mom while he’s in trouble? ‘Theodore John Kaczynski, have you been sending mail bombs to airlines and universities around the country from a remote cabin in the Montana wilderness? You are so grounded, mister! Naughty Theodore!’”
