El Paso shooting: John Oliver calls out Trump, white nationalism and anti-immigration rhetoric after latest attack
‘We are completely f***ed,” the British talk show host said
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Your support makes all the difference.John Oliver has argued that the USA is “completely f***ed” if it continues not to challenge white nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, after beginning his Sunday night edition of his talk show by addressing the two mass shootings that occurred over the weekend in the country.
Oliver appeared to well up as he chastised the repetitive nature of our responses to shootings. “When it comes to gun control, I know it can feel like everything’s been said before,” he began, “but while the depressingly familiar numbness that we may be currently feeling can help you handle the pain in the short term, in the long term, it can actually be a real problem—because unless something hurts as much as it’s supposed to, nothing gets done about it. And something has got to be done here. And not just about guns.”
He continued, “The El Paso shooting is currently being investigated as a hate crime, and the shooter’s manifesto featured anti-immigrant language that may well be familiar to you from certain cable networks and certain presidents. And clearly, white nationalism and anti-immigrant hysteria did not start with this president, but he certainly seems to create an environment where those kinds of views can fester and indeed thrive.”
Oliver then threw to a clip of a Trump rally in May, in which the president exclaimed to a crowd in Panama City Beach, Florida that “you can’t… stop these people”. When someone in the crowd responded with “Shoot them!”, Trump laughs and says, ““That’s only in the Panhandle that you can get away with that stuff! Only in the Panhandle!”
Added Oliver: “Yeah, but here is the thing about that: It is not only in the Panhandle where you can get away with that statement. You can now get away with it all over the country, and, as he just made painfully clear, in any room the actual president is in—which is absolutely appalling, and that is something we cannot afford to get numb to, because if that ever, for even a moment, feels like it’s become normal, we are completely f***ed.”
Nine people were killed and 27 others were wounded during a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio – less than 24 hours after 20 people were killed in a similar mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. Both are being treated as domestic terrorism cases, with officials in Dayton investigating their mass shooting as a potential hate crime.
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