John Oliver Rails Against the Dangers of Trump’s Empty Voter Fraud Claims

John Oliver ended the latest season of Last Week Tonight with invective against President Donald Trump’s flimsy voter fraud claims and his refusal to concede the 2020 election.

Oliver started with the fraud allegations that right-wing media has been pushing, from dubious claims that an anonymous Nevada poll worker saw people changing ballots to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson boosting an allegation that a dead man in Georgia cast a ballot this year. In the latter incident, it turned out it was the dead man’s widow, who signed her voter registration and ballot with her married name, and then told local reporters that she cast her vote for Joe Biden — or, rather, against Trump.

“Meaning that this 96-year-old’s approach to the election was pretty much the same as 20-year-old progressives,” Oliver cracked. “I wonder what else they have in common. Does she also have a collection of dank memes and spend five hours a day calling Bill de Blasio a ‘bitch’ on Twitter? I really hope so.”

Oliver also discussed the myriad lawsuits the Trump campaign has filed in numerous states. But the allegations of election misconduct contained within them amount to little more than superficial accusations like vote-counters were supposedly wearing Black Lives Matter shirts or allegedly rolling their eyes when they opened a ballot with a Trump vote.

After noting neither of those things are illegal, Oliver cracked: “If it helps here, let me just head off any future campaign lawsuits. A poll worker eating a banana is not evidence of voter fraud. One humming the chorus of ‘Uptown Girl’ is not evidence of voter fraud. Now, wearing a baseball cap could be evidence of voter fraud, but only if the person wearing it is putting valid votes into a paper shredder. If it’s just the hat part, that again, is not evidence of voter fraud.”

Ridiculous as these claims have been, Oliver closed by stressing the dangers of Trump’s refusal to concede. In doing so, not only is Trump preventing Biden from accessing transition funds and receiving key information on the Covid-19 pandemic, but Oliver highlighted the continued resentment and anger the president is sowing among his supporters.

“So many of us have lost loved ones, either because you can no longer square your love for them with their love for him; or, because they fell down a mind-melting rabbit hole of conspiracy theories that he happily perpetuated; or, because he let a deadly virus run wild and it fucking killed them,” Oliver said. “And now as a parting gift to the country, Trump is somehow managing to divide us even further while also hobbling his successor at the worst possible time, which is absolutely unforgivable.”