On last night’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver devoted the majority of his show to President Donald Trump’s growing pile of problems.
The focus was on how the president may have tried to influence investigations into possible links between his campaign team and Russia.
An exasperated Oliver described the developments as “Stupid Watergate”, in reference to Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal which led to his resignation, with “all the potential ramifications of Watergate but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything.”
Oliver also spoke about how some in the media appear to be turning a blind eye, including Fox News talking heads shown in a montage of clips that described the scandals as not a big deal.
He said: “Think about it, going into this week they were already multiple investigations into Russia’s efforts to swing the election and any possible ties to the Trump campaign.
“But there are now also strong allegations that Trump attempted in some form to influence the investigations and we now have a special counsel looking into all of this.
“You would almost have to be trying really hard not to see this as a big deal and nobody tried harder than some commentators on Fox News.”
Despite the drumbeat for impeachment, Oliver painted a picture of this being an unlikely development based on Trump’s tenacity despite scandals, and the house and senate being controlled by Republicans.
And he compared the president’s continued ability to avoid serious consequences for his actions to one of artist M.C. Escher’s seemingly never-ending drawings.
Oliver said: “The likelihood is that Trump will survive this and continue as president, which shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone.
“Why would this be the end of the line for him? Trump has seemed to reach the end of the line on multiple occasions only for nothing to happen.
“Remember when he hesitated to disavow David Duke? Wasn’t that supposed to be the end of the line?
“Or the time he bullied a Gold Star family, that had to be the end of the line, right? Or the Access Hollywood tape?
“We all thought the next stop on that bus was…you guessed it…the end of the f****** line.
“But it seems like when it comes to President Trump, he’s always approaching the end of the line, but it never seems to come…as if for him and him alone, the end of the line is drawn by [artist] M.C. f******Escher.”
Oliver saved the last three minutes of his show for the TSA and their transgressions.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11pm ET/PT on HBO.