Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: French Presidental Elections
April 18, 2017 12:17 AM - Season 4, Episode 9 - Subscribe

Meanwhile, back on Earth....
  • Trump's Press Secretary Sean Spicer digs an incredible hole for himself, first appearing to claim that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was worse than Hitler because Hitler never used chemical weapons (he did), then that Hitler never used them against innocent people (he did), then making up the term "Holocaust centers" as the place where Jews were gassed.
  • Trump meets with China president Xi Jinping, who apparently in 10 minutes convinced him to do what over half the United States desperately wanted him to do for months: learn a damn thing about North Korea. Alas they did so at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, having recently been cited for 13 health code violations. Trump continues to flip-flop on practically everything related to foreign policy, underscoring how desperately stupid his campaign was.
  • Trump drops a "MOAB" (Mother Of All Bombs) on Afghanistan, causing euphoric celebration at Fox News from Geraldo Rivera. When directly asked if he had authorized the strike, Trump danced around the question.
  • And Now: You Put Easter And Local News Together, And What Do You Fucking Expect?
  • Main Story: The upcoming French Presidental elections, between 11 different candidates, at least three of which have been assaulted in public by citizens throwing baking ingredients. YouTube (18m)


The front-runners are Emmanuel Macron of En Marche!, a centrist banker who is favored to win because he's completely inoffensive. His bloodless support may tip the election in favor of Marine Le Pen of the National Front party, daughter of the extremely controversial, far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose Wikipedia page is worth a read. She expeled her father from the party (which he helped found), and some commentators say her party has drifted away from the far-right, but her presence remains troubling, especially in the aftermath of Trump's election in the US. Oliver tries to appeal to the French sense of superiority by pleading with them, in French and in black-and-white, to not go down the same road as the US and UK.

F. 37: E Pluribus Ovum, EASTER
posted by JHarris (8 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't know why, but this one seemed a lot... lighter? breezier? less-cripplingly-depressing?
than most of the post-election LWTs.
posted by Etrigan at 6:39 AM on April 18, 2017


Yep! It's because the main story isn't about something immediately, directly horrible to us. I enjoyed the change of pace.
posted by JHarris at 11:53 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Putting the final credits in French was a nice touch.
posted by orange swan at 9:34 PM on April 18, 2017 [8 favorites]


MOAB = Massive Ordnance Air Blast. Sorry, it's just been bugging me all week.
posted by zinon at 6:30 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


I enjoyed Mr Peanut, Klansman way more than I should have.
posted by Frayed Knot at 7:23 AM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


I find it hard to believe that Massive Ordnance Air Blast isn't a retronym, especially after Saddam Hussein meme-ified MOAB as the "Mother of all Battles" before the first Gulf War.
posted by JHarris at 1:15 AM on April 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


MOAB = Massive Ordnance Air Blast. Sorry, it's just been bugging me all week.

Y not both?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:35 AM on April 22, 2017


The bit with his speaking French was hysterical.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:10 PM on April 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


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