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Bethan McKernan
Feb 29, 2016
![John Oliver has given us the Donald Trump takedown we so desperately needed](https://www.indy100.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28094449&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=112%2C0%2C112%2C0)
John Oliver has tried not to talk about Donald Trump in the last six months.
But on Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight, with Super Tuesday looming and the Trump bus showing no signs of slowing down, he's acknowledged it's time - like a worrisome, growing back mole - for America to address its Trump problem.
Presidential candidates who win the most states on Super Tuesday have gone on to secure their party's nomination in every election since 1988, Oliver says.
The comedian says understands the appeal - especially if you're disillusioned with establishment politics.
I get that the character of Donald Trump is entertaining, and that he says things that people want to hear.
But, in a searing 20-minute-long blow by blow take down of reasons given by Trump supporters for liking him, Oliver breaks down exactly why the improbably-haired property mogul really isn't what he seems:
'He tells it like it is':
Does he? Because the website PolitiFact checked 77 of his statements, and rated 76 percent of them as varying degrees of false.
'He is truly independent and not beholden to anyone':
While it is true that he hasn't taken corporate money, the implication that he has personally spent $20 - $25 million is a bit of a stretch, because what he's actually done is loaned his own campaign $17.5 million and has just personally given just $250,000.
And that's important, because up until the convention he can pay himself back for the loan with campaign funds.
'He's tough':
For a tough guy, he has incredibly thin skin. Back in 1988, Spy magazine called him a short-fingered vulgarian. And ever since, the editor Graydon Carter says he receives envelopes from Trump, always with a photo on which he circled his hand to highlight the length of his fingers, usually with a note reading, 'See, not so short!'"
'His success':
While yes, he has made more money than most of us will make in a lifetime, not only did he get a multimillion-dollar inheritance from his father, but he's also lost a huge amount.
Oliver eviscerates Trump's really quite loose grasp on:
facts
lies
his own statements
his own money
financial basics
There's also the rather nasty business of his nauseating sexism and noted racism.
And that's before we get into the fact he has wildly inconsistent views and no coherent policy on just about all political topics if he actually does get into the White House.
Talking about Trump's equivocating on ex-KKK leader David Duke's endorsement, Oliver nails why a feeling of helplessness has descended on all of us who have watched Trump's rise and rise:
...With an answer like that, you're either a racist, or pretending to be, and at some point there is no difference there.
You have to laugh, or you'll cry. Enjoy the Oliver clip you've been waiting for below - and find out why he wants to 'Make Donald Drumpf Again':
More: Johnny Depp taking off his Donald Trump mask is a top notch nightmare recipe
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