John Oliver discussed Donald Trump’s reaction to the Parkland shooting, criticizing his proposed plan to arm teachers and how he chose to share it with others.
On Last Week Tonight, the comic reviewed the past week’s events and examined how the idea seemed to percolate in Trump’s head.
Oliver looked back on Trump’s appearance to discuss the shooting with survivors and the notes that he brought with him. The final point read “I hear you” which led Oliver to say that it’s “what you might write down if you were a robot pretending to be a person pretending to be a robot pretending to be a person”.
Trump had already raised his idea to arm teachers with the press but he also decided to share it with Parkland students and school staff, asking for them to raise their hands for approval. The reaction wasn’t one of support. “That is Donald Trump in a nutshell: proposing a terrible idea in a tone deaf way then refusing to acknowledge he just lost the popular vote,” he said.
Oliver continued: “There are clearly multiple issues with the idea of arming teachers from the fact that it’s not their job to the fact that there was an armed deputy in Parkland and that didn’t deter or stop the shooter.”
He called the logistics of the plan “pretty daunting” and given that it would lead to over 700,000 guns in schools, he was unsurprised that the NRA was in full support. He joked that their solution to all problems tend to involve similar ideas.
“They probably deal with climate change by pointing a glock at the ocean and daring that motherfucker to rise,” he said.
