President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend to discuss the state of things in Ukraine, but it was a short meeting. It was also one that, as John Oliver marveled at on Sunday night, even Fox News couldn’t make seem better.
To kick off the latest episode of “Last Week Tonight,” the HBO host immediately zeroed in on Trump’s meeting with Putin, pointing out that the press conference immediately following it “went so badly, even this Fox News reporter couldn’t put a positive spin on it.” At that, a clip of Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich began playing, in which she described the atmosphere in the room as “not good”.
“It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled,” she said. “Got right in to what he wanted to say, and got his photo next to the president, and then left.”
“Yeah, not great!” Oliver retorted with a laugh. “And while the White House later released this black-and-white photo of Trump looking tough while talking to Putin, it does seem that the vibe was more accurately summed up by this AP photo of Putin looking confident, and Trump looking like that room temperature shrimp is coming back up.”
The late night host then picked apart Trump’s takeover of the Washington, D.C., police, calling it nothing more than a “show of power,” considering crime stats in the area are actually at record lows.
“It is painfully clear that Trump is doing this to boost his tough guy image with his base. But that is going to be a challenge,” Oliver said.
“Because it is a tough sell for the man who was friends with a child sex trafficker, brought about this mess” — an image of the January 6 insurrection appeared onscreen at this moment — “and on Friday got steamrolled by a bloodthirsty warlord, to convince Americans that he is keeping them safe, when I would argue, if anyone is making things too dadgum dangerous in this country, it’s probably f–king him right now.”
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” airs Sunday nights on HBO Max.
