Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Donald Trump
February 29, 2016 9:46 AM - Season 3, Episode 3 - Subscribe
This week.... Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attempts to tackle his nations economic woes while wasting money on red carpets and begging for donations. President Obama tries, again, to close Guantanamo Bay over the objections of Congress. And Now: Basketball Enthusiast Pat Roberts Spends Twelve Minutes of Sentate Time Fantasizing About Playing One-On-One with the President. "Our main story tonight, and I cannot believe I am saying this, is Donald Trump." (YouTube 22m) A long and hilarious segment on Trump's many many failings, ending with the revelation that his ancestral family name was, in fact, Drumpf -- a word which the show has filed paperwork to trademark. They also own the website donaldjdrumpf.com, and offer an extension for Chrome called The Drumpfinator. Additionally, last week's segment on Hollywood Whitewashing (5m) is available on LWT's YouTube channel.
Egypt: "Or, as ISIS calls it, 'Next.'"
Guantanamo Bay: "The Hotel California of prisons: you can never leave and, like that album, it is a permanent stain on America's reputation."
Egypt: "Or, as ISIS calls it, 'Next.'"
Guantanamo Bay: "The Hotel California of prisons: you can never leave and, like that album, it is a permanent stain on America's reputation."
That line about the sharpie is literally gold.
posted by mochapickle at 10:21 AM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 10:21 AM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
The talk of Drumpf's little hands reminded me of Deadpool's baby hand, which made the whole thing about 10x more disturbing.
Here's an article with the extensive coverage of the "short-fingered vulgarian" in Spy.
posted by triggerfinger at 11:10 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here's an article with the extensive coverage of the "short-fingered vulgarian" in Spy.
posted by triggerfinger at 11:10 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Drumpf! I'm imagining the Last Week Tonight staff taking a champagne break when they came up with that bit of information. It's like the time I did a little internet sleuthing and found out a certain rabidly anti-gay marriage internet commenter I'd locked horns with was once slapped with a restraining order by her ex-husband.
I've started to watch all of John Oliver's shows from when they first began to air in 2014 and it's amazing how consistently great this show is.
posted by orange swan at 6:57 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've started to watch all of John Oliver's shows from when they first began to air in 2014 and it's amazing how consistently great this show is.
posted by orange swan at 6:57 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
This morning I heard coverage about Rubio insulting Drumpf for his "small hands" and I just rolled my eyes like it was lame. But now, via Oliver's show, I learn that Drumpf is STILL angry over a decades-old Spy magazine insult over his hand size. If he's that sensitive about his finger length, maybe the way to destroy him is for the press to start asking him "why are your fingers so short?" every day - he actually explode from anger.
posted by dnash at 7:42 PM on February 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by dnash at 7:42 PM on February 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh gods, this Drumpfinator extension... It's so simple and petty, and I love it so, so much.
posted by Etrigan at 7:42 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 7:42 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh gods, this Drumpfinator extension
Yeah, I'd been using one I saw linked somewhere here on MeFi months ago that replaces "Donald Trump" with "some rich asshole." Which is fun but does sometimes create some awkward grammar constructions. Simply changing the last name is cleaner.
posted by dnash at 7:51 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I'd been using one I saw linked somewhere here on MeFi months ago that replaces "Donald Trump" with "some rich asshole." Which is fun but does sometimes create some awkward grammar constructions. Simply changing the last name is cleaner.
posted by dnash at 7:51 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
If only that rich asshole weren't so bothered by his short fingers. Given his apparently-endless string of vanity business projects, he could've started one producing fancy gloves for short-fingered people. It'd actually be useful, and also I would have a better shot at finding gloves that fit my own short-fingered hands.
posted by asperity at 7:55 PM on February 29, 2016
posted by asperity at 7:55 PM on February 29, 2016
It seems like everybody loved the Drumpf bit but me. "Funny last name" seems like such a weak route to take with this rolling-horror-show-that-no-one-seems-to-know-how-to-stop, though. I get that it's supposed to get under his skin, but if this is the best that Oliver can come up with, we really are screwed.
(I guess this hits close to home since I know people who have last names that end with -umpf, some of whom are doing important work to fight the good fight, and "funny last name" is an elitist WASP joke.)
posted by aabbbiee at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
(I guess this hits close to home since I know people who have last names that end with -umpf, some of whom are doing important work to fight the good fight, and "funny last name" is an elitist WASP joke.)
posted by aabbbiee at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's not "he had a funny, foreign-sounding last name," it's "let's take away his Power Name and return him to his 'much less magical' last name." And to quote Drumpf himself, "he should be proud of his heritage."
posted by filthy light thief at 9:53 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:53 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I feel like everyone is missing the point of Drumpf.
For me, using that word is a way of talking about him while simultaneously providing a constant reminder of the very thing Oliver's segment was trying to accomplish- Trump lies, misstates facts, and simply says whatever he feels like saying in order to bluster his way through whatever is being discussed.
"Say it loud enough, often enough, and pretty soon people will accept it as fact." That is one of his worst evils.
When I call him Drumpf, there is zero racism or xenophobery in my intent. There is, however, 100% desire to remind myself and others that the person I am talking about IS both of those things.
Drumpf is the code word for all the reasons why he must be stopped.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:55 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
For me, using that word is a way of talking about him while simultaneously providing a constant reminder of the very thing Oliver's segment was trying to accomplish- Trump lies, misstates facts, and simply says whatever he feels like saying in order to bluster his way through whatever is being discussed.
"Say it loud enough, often enough, and pretty soon people will accept it as fact." That is one of his worst evils.
When I call him Drumpf, there is zero racism or xenophobery in my intent. There is, however, 100% desire to remind myself and others that the person I am talking about IS both of those things.
Drumpf is the code word for all the reasons why he must be stopped.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:55 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Drumpf basically means trump in German. And Donald Trump didn't change his own name. It was changed on an ancestor's entry to the US, just like a huge percentage of American family names.
What I'm saying is that, if anti-Trump people think this will make any difference to pro-Trump supporters, they're wrong. This is not a rallying cry that will change any minds or do any damage to the Trump brand in the minds of the people who are casting votes for him.
We don't need more reasons to laugh at Donald Trump. We should have stopped laughing months ago. This is deadly serious and it's getting more serious, and if John Oliver can't do better than this, than we are in a fuckload of trouble.
posted by aabbbiee at 10:52 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
What I'm saying is that, if anti-Trump people think this will make any difference to pro-Trump supporters, they're wrong. This is not a rallying cry that will change any minds or do any damage to the Trump brand in the minds of the people who are casting votes for him.
We don't need more reasons to laugh at Donald Trump. We should have stopped laughing months ago. This is deadly serious and it's getting more serious, and if John Oliver can't do better than this, than we are in a fuckload of trouble.
posted by aabbbiee at 10:52 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
What I'm saying is that, if anti-Trump people think this will make any difference to pro-Trump supporters, they're wrong.
Nobody thinks that. It's a sweet bit of inanity to make the depressing march of this primary season a tiny bit more bearable.
posted by psoas at 11:10 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
Nobody thinks that. It's a sweet bit of inanity to make the depressing march of this primary season a tiny bit more bearable.
posted by psoas at 11:10 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
if anti-Trump people think this will make any difference to pro-Trump supporters, they're wrong
Does anyone who is "anti-Trump" believe that anything would make a difference to pro-Trump supporters? He's one of the most obvious con artist many have seen. Those that fall for it are basically infallible in their conviction that he speaks the truth or tells it like it is. He could crap on their babies and he'd still be just a terrific guy. Republicans in particular have capitalized on selling shit to their base all the while make life worse for them.
As for Drumpf, isn't this a reference to Trump making fun of Jon Stewart's name change and also in use for a play on make America great again? It mirrors and illustrates yet again the terribly juvenille nature of Trump himself.
posted by juiceCake at 11:17 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Does anyone who is "anti-Trump" believe that anything would make a difference to pro-Trump supporters? He's one of the most obvious con artist many have seen. Those that fall for it are basically infallible in their conviction that he speaks the truth or tells it like it is. He could crap on their babies and he'd still be just a terrific guy. Republicans in particular have capitalized on selling shit to their base all the while make life worse for them.
As for Drumpf, isn't this a reference to Trump making fun of Jon Stewart's name change and also in use for a play on make America great again? It mirrors and illustrates yet again the terribly juvenille nature of Trump himself.
posted by juiceCake at 11:17 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
juiceCake has it. Trump was an obvious con artist in the 90s, his entire shtick built off of the appearance of vast wealth and the automatic status that appearance accords.
Why would anyone care about Trump Steaks? Does the Donald have some special meat-selecting power? Do you know there exists Trump: The Board Game? How much money, relative to the size of his fortune, does that bring in, really? There is no Warren Buffet board game. Trump's website has merchandise section which reveals he's currently selling Trump Bottled Water, Trump Fragrance, and Trump home furnishings. The page also has an apparel line with his son's name on it, and a jewelry line with his daughter Ivanka's name, which is actually the most charming thing I know about their father (he brought the kids into his self-promotional business), although I don't think that does much to counter the whole KKK thing. Also, considering his son's name, it's hard to avoid the thought that the old man thinks of him as TRUMP: The Son.
Someone went through his FEC financial disclosure forms to count how many companies he's an executive in. The number is 515, and more than half of those has the word Trump in their names.
No rich guy seems to care about projecting himself into the popular culture anywhere close to as far as Donald Trump. Most obscenely lucred-up folk are content to just invisibly affect everything that happens in our world, but not Donald Trump. I can't help but think that there is some strategy at work there, and the obvious one is that it's a con, a way to make things he sells seem more valuable just by their connection with opulence.
Found while writing this, and interesting: Washington Post, "The Myth and Reality of Donald Trump's Business Empire."
posted by JHarris at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2016
Why would anyone care about Trump Steaks? Does the Donald have some special meat-selecting power? Do you know there exists Trump: The Board Game? How much money, relative to the size of his fortune, does that bring in, really? There is no Warren Buffet board game. Trump's website has merchandise section which reveals he's currently selling Trump Bottled Water, Trump Fragrance, and Trump home furnishings. The page also has an apparel line with his son's name on it, and a jewelry line with his daughter Ivanka's name, which is actually the most charming thing I know about their father (he brought the kids into his self-promotional business), although I don't think that does much to counter the whole KKK thing. Also, considering his son's name, it's hard to avoid the thought that the old man thinks of him as TRUMP: The Son.
Someone went through his FEC financial disclosure forms to count how many companies he's an executive in. The number is 515, and more than half of those has the word Trump in their names.
No rich guy seems to care about projecting himself into the popular culture anywhere close to as far as Donald Trump. Most obscenely lucred-up folk are content to just invisibly affect everything that happens in our world, but not Donald Trump. I can't help but think that there is some strategy at work there, and the obvious one is that it's a con, a way to make things he sells seem more valuable just by their connection with opulence.
Found while writing this, and interesting: Washington Post, "The Myth and Reality of Donald Trump's Business Empire."
posted by JHarris at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2016
juiceCake: "It mirrors and illustrates yet again the terribly juvenille nature of Trump himself."
This right here seems like something we should be trying desperately not to do.
I love John Oliver, but this was a huge mistake. And I'm interested to see what he has to say about it next episode, since I feel like he can't ignore the feelings I think a lot of people have about it. Particularly people actually named Drumpf.
posted by koeselitz at 11:35 PM on March 3, 2016
This right here seems like something we should be trying desperately not to do.
I love John Oliver, but this was a huge mistake. And I'm interested to see what he has to say about it next episode, since I feel like he can't ignore the feelings I think a lot of people have about it. Particularly people actually named Drumpf.
posted by koeselitz at 11:35 PM on March 3, 2016
Trump Fragrance...
Really? Oh dear.
(intransitive) (British, slang) to expel intestinal gas through the anus
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:36 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Really? Oh dear.
(intransitive) (British, slang) to expel intestinal gas through the anus
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:36 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by mcstayinskool at 10:07 AM on February 29, 2016 [3 favorites]