John Oliver calls Trump’s comments about George Floyd 'utterly f***ing disgusting'
On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver laid into President Trump comments he made about George Floyd two days earlier. As Trump touted a jobs report Friday showing millions of people are going back to work following stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus, Trump said of Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, “Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying ’This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’” Trump added, “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody.”
“He also, when announcing job numbers on Friday, invoked George Floyd’s name, saying this was a great day for him,” Oliver said in response, “which is utterly f***ing disgusting.”
Oliver also slammed Trump’s handling of the protests outside the White House in response to Floyd’s death. Trump reportedly sheltered in the White House bunker as the protest raged nearby, which he denies, then on Monday, police violently attacked peaceful protesters to clear space for Trump to get his picture taken in front of St. John’s Church while holding a Bible.
“He initially hid from the protesters in a bunker, later claiming he wasn’t hiding, he was actually just inspecting it,” Oliver said. “Then his attorney general had police gas protesters outside the White House so that Trump could have an inexplicable photo op at a nearby church while holding up a Bible like it’s his ticket for his sandwich order that was just called.”
Oliver also pointed out that the federal government has the power to bring about the police reform protesters are demanding through consent decrees. This is when a police department agrees to make institutional changes which are overseen by a federal court and an independent monitoring team. But Oliver doesn’t expect this to happen while Trump is in office. To prove his point, Oliver compared Trump’s record on investigating police misconduct to that of his predecessors.
“In George W. Bush’s first term, his Justice Department launched 12 such investigations into police departments. In Obama’s first term, it was 15,” Oliver said. “Trump’s DOJ has launched just a single investigation and has entered zero consent decrees.”
Oliver also pointed out that Trump himself has spoken favorably of police using unnecessary force, garnering quick rebuke from police departments across the country.
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver airs Sundays at 11 p.m. on HBO.
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