John Oliver says Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance should stop “scolding people for enjoying stuff” while on the campaign trail.
“The Trump campaign continued trying to counter enthusiasm for the Democrats’ new ticket, with JD Vance — a man who virtually looks like he got stuck 10 percent of the way to transforming into a werewolf — desperately trying to spin the joy of Harris’ recent rallies as a negative,” Oliver said at the start of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.
He showed a C-SPAN clip of Vance giving a speech in Byron Center, Michigan, last week, where Vance was criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to accept the Democrat nomination for president on Thursday at the DNC.
“She says she’s having fun, but while she’s having fun, Americans are suffering under her policies,” he said. “When she laughs during a speech, remember that there are American families crying this very day because they cannot afford groceries. When she does these rallies and does these events, and does these fake dances, remember that there are parents who lost their children to drugs or violence who will never see their children move again, much less dance again.”
Opined Oliver in response: “What are you doing? Scolding people for enjoying stuff because there are sadder things happening elsewhere is a shitty thing to do, although it does make me curious what Vance is like in other social situations.”
Oliver walked through a hypothetical situation where Vance takes his kids to SeaWorld. He imagined Vance saying: “All right, kids enjoy SeaWorld. Meet us back here at 2, and remember, dolphins will sometimes kill porpoises for sport. Have fun! Scientists call it porpicide, by the way.”
Oliver also made a joke at his own expense.
“For what it’s worth, bumming everyone out with depressing facts about things you like isn’t how you become vice president; it’s how you put people to sleep once a week while aging like a wartime president,” he quipped, showing a photo of himself. “Get the fuck off my corner.”