As this year’s midterms quickly approach, John Oliver issued an urgent warning on Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight.” According to the HBO host, the Republican party is currently “at a crossroads,” thanks to its open embrace of right-wing extremists in recent years.
After a 2-week hiatus, Oliver returned to jump right into his main story: calling out how Nazis are seemingly infiltrating the GOP. The late night host recalled how Elon Musk apparently gave a Nazi salute to Trump supporters, Tucker Carlson platformed Nick Fuentes and more, but also called out several current candidates that concern him. That includes Peter Oberacker, a Republican candidate for New York’s 19th congressional district, who once commemorated Veterans Day by posting a photo of his late grandfather who’d died fighting for Nazi Germany. He was even wearing his uniform in the photo, but Oberacker said it was simply the only photo he had of his grandfather.
“It does feel like the Republican Party has been getting way too comfortable with some, at best, Nazi-adjacent s–t,” Oliver said.
Oliver offered “the maximum benefit of the doubt” for some dogwhistles, but couldn’t ignore “naked bigotry” from others, including Senator Tommy Tuberville, Andy Ogle and Beau French. After offering a slew of even more examples, Oliver got blunt.
“Make no mistake, this party is at a crossroads right now,” he said. “Their current leader is, by the standards of both the constitution and even the most generous cardiologist, on his way out. And the next iteration of this party is currently being decided amid a rising chorus of white nationalists, open neo-Nazis, and bigots.”
“While I know that is a pretty ugly picture to paint of their party, if Republicans are not willing to actually stand up and do something about it, then I’m afraid, much like a certain politician running in upstate New York, it might soon be the only picture of it they have f–king left.”
You can watch the full segment in the video above.
