John Oliver: Congress Must Admit Comey’s Firing Is "F*cked Up"
It's not a system of checks and balances if there are no checks and balances.
John Oliver is calling on Congress to “stop that boy” from crapping all over the presidency.
The suspicious firing of FBI director James Comey last week is the last straw, Oliver told viewers on his HBO show Last Week Tonight on Sunday. It’s time Congress stepped in and took action.
“When you’ve got the presidential equivalent of a five-year-old shitting on the salad bar at a Ruby Tuesday, at some point, you stop blaming the 5-year-old, and you start blaming the people that are not stopping him.”
Oliver’s point is that Congress exists to be a check on executive power. And when you have a president who takes a 180-degree turn on his administration’s claim that Comey was fired due to a recommendation by the deputy attorney general, instead telling NBC that he fired Comey because he wanted to — you have a major problem.
According to Oliver, it’s clear that the political system is not working because of a president gone rogue. He pointed out that Congress still has several options. There’s the ongoing investigation from which Comey was just removed; it needs to continue to be vigilant and impartial. Oliver suggests Congress could also pressure the appointment of a special council within the Justice Department to look into Russian influence.
But there’s also one very pressing thing that Congress has to do, he said. “They need to acknowledge that what has happened is fucked up!”
Oliver had a special bone to pick with House Speaker Paul Ryan about his public state of aloofness regarding the Comey firing. “It’s actually incredible to watch a man who spends 90 minutes every morning working out refuse to show any strength whatsoever,” he said.
Iowa Congressman Rod Blum’s recent town hall comments denying the possibility that President Donald Trump could be guilty of anything also got him a shout-out from Oliver. “Unless Blum has a disease that makes him say genuine things in a sarcastic voice, that was also a very stupid thing to say.”
As far as Oliver is concerned, if Congress doesn’t start fulfilling its duty in a democracy based on checks and balances, it’s no longer all Trump’s fault: “It’s on you,” Oliver said, pointing at the screen.
Does anyone in Congress watch Last Week Tonight?
