John Oliver started on Sunday Last week tonight By mocking President Trump for justifying his avoidance of using the word “war” amid the US military operation in Iran.
“The Iran war is into its second month, although Trump is trying not to use the word ‘war’ for reasons he probably shouldn’t say out loud,” Oliver said, and prepared a clip of Trump explaining why he should not use the term.
“I’m not going to use the word ‘war’ because they say if you use the word war, it might not be a good thing,” Trump said. “They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is what it really is.”
“What? He’s actually talking like a 6-year-old talking about a stranger’s stream of consciousness: ‘And my mom says I’m not allowed to talk about my penis with other people, even though everyone has a penis,’ Oliver replied. ‘Well, not her and not my sister, but my dad and I have penises, but I can’t say that when there’s a lot of people around, even though everyone knows ’cause they have their own penis unless they don’t, but I do.'”
Oliver then said that no matter what word was used to describe the conflict, “it was chaos.” He summarized recent developments, including Trump’s threat to attack Iran’s energy grid if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and posted on social media that he would “start with the largest” power plant first. Oliver pointed out that “it would be a war crime if this were a war, but fortunately we now know that it is not.”
Oliver added that Trump then said that those strikes would be postponed after fruitful talks with Iran, which the latter denied had happened. Trump then extended the deadline to April 6, even though Iran was bombing US and allied bases. He noted that 2,000 Iranians and 13 American soldiers have been killed so far, while Trump is said to be considering sending another 10,000 soldiers to the region.
“We certainly feel like we’re in an unnecessary war that has no end, although the president’s supporters will insist that if you look at things the right way, it all makes sense,” he said, showing a clip of Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican, giving his opinion.
“That’s why we went to Iran: We had no choice,” Kennedy said. “The president did not start the war. He was trying to stop the war.”
“Oh, I get it,” Oliver said. “Sometimes you have to start a war to stop a war. In the same way you have to ‘spend money to make money’ or ‘fake it till you make it’—you know, one of those things people say when they’re in way over their heads.”
