John Oliver returned for another audience-less episode of “Last Week Tonight” due to the coronavirus, imploring viewers to continue their social distancing and lambasting certain cable news pundits and elected officials for their “appalling” response to the pandemic, particularly President Donald Trump.
The HBO host was blunt in his assessment of Trump’s performance thus far, saying that he was “less equipped to deal with this historical moment than anyone in recorded history.” Oliver took Trump to task for everything from claiming that some people want the country shut down longer in order to prevent him from being re-elected in November to initially suggesting that federal coronavirus guidelines like social distancing could be lifted by Easter. (Trump recently extended the guidelines through April 30.)
“Again and again, Trump has failed to give this crisis the seriousness it requires,” Oliver said. “This was always going to be hard, but it didn’t have to be this hard.”
Oliver also criticized the president for downplaying the need for ventilators in hospitals, playing a clip of Trump on Fox News saying that he believed New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s request was overkill.
“I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators,” Trump said in the interview. “You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes and they’ll have two ventilators.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem: Hospitals don’t have that many ventilators, and now there’s a pandemic,” Oliver said, exasperated. “Trump must be so confused by fire departments. You walk into most houses, they’ve got some sinks, maybe a few cups. Now all of a sudden they’re on fire and they say they need hundreds of gallons of water sprayed at them with houses? I just don’t buy it.”
Oliver ended the show with a call to continue social distancing in order to help hospitals from being overwhelmed more than they already are.
“Right now what we all choose to do outside of our hospitals has a direct and significant impact on what happens inside of them,” Oliver said. “The more strictly that we all follow social distancing guidelines to the maximum extent that we can, the easier it will be for our healthcare workers to do their jobs. It is the only way to counteract an appalling federal response that inspires a mixture of anger, bafflement, and disgust.”
Get Boston.com’s e-mail alerts:
Sign up and receive coronavirus news and breaking updates, from our newsroom to your inbox.
How to Boston
Find out how to Boston when you sign up for Boston.com’s culture and lifestyle newsletter.
Thanks for signing up!
