By love-89.com In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver took a critical look at the widespread admiration for the “civility” displayed during the vice-presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. He pointed out that concerns over politeness seem insignificant when crucial issues like immigrant rights and women’s bodily autonomy are at stake. “It’s like reading a ransom note and saying, ‘This cursive is just so lovely. Look at the capital Y in ‘You have 24 hours before he dies.’ There are still people who were raised right,’” he quipped.
Oliver also scrutinized Vance’s evasive response when asked directly if he believed Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance’s noncommittal answer—“I’m focused on the future”—was labeled a “damning non-answer” by Walz. Oliver ridiculed this deflection, remarking, “‘I’m focused on the future’ is one of the most generic store-brand deflections you can make. If you weren’t trying to dodge the question, you would just answer it.”
Delving deeper, Oliver examined special counsel Jack Smith’s 165-page report detailing Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The report allegedly reveals Trump admitting to White House staff that he was aware he lost but would still “fight like hell.” “But it super matters if you lost,” Oliver stressed. “That is the most unsettling thing you could possibly overhear if you work at the White House.”
He recounted an instance from the report in which Trump muted his lawyer Sidney Powell during a call while she was discussing her unfounded fraud claims, leading Oliver to joke, “If I ever found out that I lied so badly that Donald Trump muted the call to say this is some crazy shit, you would never see me again. I would walk directly into the ocean.”
Despite the humor, Oliver conveyed a serious message: “If he loses next month, there’s every reason to believe Trump will challenge the results again, and Vance has made it clear he’s on board with that. Just this alone should be disqualifying. For all the talk about civility during the debate, let’s not forget that at his core, [Vance] is still a giant purveyor of rightwing hate who continues to support the ‘big lie’ that the last election was stolen. It’s pretty bleak. I hope that in four weeks, Trump loses this election.”
In his main segment, Oliver tackled the alarming reality of routine traffic stops for “non-safety violations,” emphasizing the disproportionate targeting of people of color by law enforcement. He noted that traffic stops are the most common interactions with law enforcement in the U.S., with police conducting an average of 50,000 stops per day. Tragically, since 2017, police have fatally shot at least 813 people during these stops, the vast majority of whom were Black. “We’ve all seen the videos of high-profile killings like those of Philando Castile and Daunte Wright,” he remarked. “The horror of those videos should be seared into our collective consciousness by now.”
Oliver pointed out that for Black drivers, “driving comes with a constant undercurrent of fear.” While he acknowledged there are legitimate reasons for some traffic stops, he insisted that no driver should have to be concerned about harassment or the risk of fatal outcomes during a routine stop. He criticized the system, stating that the dangers facing motorists aren’t just the result of a few rogue officers; they stem from systemic issues resulting from intentional policy choices.
He highlighted how some police departments incentivize traffic stops for funding and how officers often use subjective criteria to justify pulling people over. “These ‘pretextual stops’ amount to shaking people down to see what crimes fall out,” Oliver pointed out.
In a lighter moment, he shared an old public service announcement featuring characters from the musical Cats, urging drivers to be safe, and joked, “That musical is an abomination. If there’s ever a day when Andrew Lloyd Webber has no haters, that means I’m dead.”
On a more serious note, Oliver called for an outright ban on pretextual stops and the elimination of non-safety-related traffic stops. He pointed to successful implementations in cities like Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Philadelphia, where traffic stops were halved after similar measures were adopted, resulting in 12,000 fewer Black drivers being pulled over. He also advocated for decriminalizing minor traffic offenses and for making traffic stop data—including the race of those involved—publicly accessible. “It’s frankly incredible that it’s not already happening,” he noted. While recognizing the political hurdles, he emphasized that reducing non-safety-related stops should be a widely acceptable proposition.