John Oliver Finds GOP Candidates Even ‘Weirder’ Than Trump and Vance

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver thinks Democrats’ strategy of calling out Donald Trump and JD Vance as “weird” is “getting to him”, and moreover, the GOP is not helping themselves by nominating even weirder candidates in last week’s Senate primaries in Minnesota, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

“You know it’s getting to him,” Oliver said, noting how Trump tried to deflect the “weird” label by claiming he’s anything but. “You tried to buy Greenland. You stared at the sun during a solar eclipse. And you did this,” Oliver said, displaying photos of Trump hugging and kissing the American flag. “That’s not something a normal guy does.”

Oliver added: “The ‘weird’ label has been particularly hard to shake because Republican candidates further down the ballot keep compounding it, including some who won primaries just this week.”

In Minnesota, Republican primary voters advanced U.S. Senate candidate Royce White, a 33-year-old former professional basketball player and “die-hard Trump supporter as he will tell you,” Oliver said, before playing a clip where White declared to the camera: “Donald Trump could get up on stage, pull his pants down, take a shit up at the podium, and I still would never vote for you fucking Democrats again,” adding, “Let that sink in.”

Oliver had questions. Namely: “Is there a place where Trump could take a shit that would make you vote for Democrats again?” A merry-go-round? Inside a gumball machine? On White’s own toilet lid?” Oliver said White has also questioned if a plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11 and once posted a map he claimed were crime spots in Minneapolis, but were actually drinking fountain locations.

In Virginia, Oliver said the GOP candidate for Senate, retired Navy captain Hung Cao, is “also a very strange man,” evidenced by a clip in which Cao expressed concern over Lovers Point; a location in Monterey, California, he claimed had been taken over by wiccans. “If Monterey is actually overrun by witches—which it’s not—I’m frankly furious there wasn’t a witchcraft storyline on Big Little Lies!” Oliver exclaimed.

And in Wisconsin, Oliver called Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s Republican challenger, banking CEO Eric Hovde, “Ned Flanders without the raw sexual charisma.” A video Hovde posted in February of himself bathing in a frozen lake to tout his Wisconsin bona fides, wasn’t doing him any favors, Oliver claimed. “Challenging someone to meet you in a frozen lake to score political points is pathetic. I’d say it was a dick-measuring contest, but I’m guessing given the temperature of that water yours has disappeared into your body right now.”

“Look,” Oliver added. “I get Republicans want to get out from under accusations of weirdness. But the way to do that is by stop being so fucking weird. Because fantasizing about your party’s presidential candidate shitting in front of you? That’s weird. Warning everyone about the influence of Monterey witches? Weird. Inviting your female opponent to join you in a frozen lake? That is very weird,” Oliver said. “And I do apologize for laughing at these people. Partly because I know it’s not nice, but mainly because as we all now know, JD Vance believes every time someone laughs somewhere in the world, a child loses their groceries for some reason.”

Last Week Tonight is now off for two weeks for Oliver’s customary end-of-the-summer vacation, returning Sept. 8.

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