On Sunday, John Oliver launched his fifth Last Week Tonight segment on the coronavirus, this time turning his steely gaze on certain media treatment of the pandemic — and how it's all feeding back to Donald Trump.
Over the course of a 20-minute teardown, Oliver plays clips from the likes of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, including unsubstantiated speculation on the effects of the drug hydroxychloroquine on coronavirus, and the "popular conservative narrative" about it being "time to re-open the economy."
"The problem is, our current president isn't just the subject of this misinformation," explains Oliver. "He is, as we all know, also the target of it — often pulling his talking points directly from what he sees."
Oliver finishes by saying that he understands why Fox and Trump want all this to be over — because he does as well.
"I want people to be able to get back to work and get some sense of normalcy restored," says Oliver. "But for what it's worth, I know people who've died from this. I also know people who are taking hydroxychloroquine because they think it will give them immunity, and I know people with Lupus who are down to their last few weeks of pills, and it makes me fucking furious.
"Because the fact is, the fastest way for this to be over is for all of us to remain united in this very difficult task."
