John Oliver destroys Donald Trump, Billy Bush and the GOP over leaked 2005 tape

Culture

While Last Week Tonight host John Oliver wasn't able to discuss the second presidential debate — the show was taped before it began — Oliver did discuss the biggest story of not just the week, but perhaps the entire election: the leaked tape from 2005, in which Donald Trump speaks to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. In the recording, Trump brags about how his fame allows him to treat women. The behavior Trump describes can easily be construed as sexual assault

"Last Sunday, I told you if you looked above the clouds you would see rock bottom, but if you look up there now — all the way up high — you will see, right there in the distance, where we were last week," Oliver says. "We have sunk so low, we are breaking through the earth's crust, where drowning in hot magma will come as sweet, sweet relief. And incidentally, fuck Billy Bush!" 

Oliver then moved on to Trump's apology video regarding the leaked footage, in which Trump said he never considered himself a "perfect person" and that the video doesn't "reflect who I am." 

"Let's try and unpack that," Oliver says. "First, he claims he's never said he's a perfect person — which, of course, is a lie. Then he said he never pretended to be someone he's not right before claiming, 'These words don't reflect who I am' — which is absolutely absurd. They could not capture his essence more if they were spoken by a spray tanned furby eating KFC and screaming at a Gold Star family." 

Oliver wasn't forgiving to the Republican party either, and many GOP leaders have since pulled their support for the candidate. Specifically, Oliver went after former presidential candidate John McCain, who said Trump is the only one who bears responsibility — and should suffer — for his actions. 

"Except no, he alone does not bear the burden of his conduct, because he alone did not make himself your party's nominee," Oliver said. "All of you have consistently supported him through some absolutely heinous shit." 

Oliver went on to list Trump's many controversial remarks during his campaign, starting with him claiming Mexican immigrants were drug dealers and rapists during his announcement speech. 

Ultimately, like many of us, Oliver is flabbergasted at how nightmarish this year's election has been. However, he notes that there's a certain, twisted poetry in the fact that Hillary Clinton — potentially, our first female U.S. president — has to make her way through a misogynistic opponent. 

"I'll put it this way," Oliver concludes. "If American democracy is a computer game, and Hillary is completing women's 100-year quest to get to the Oval Office, it kind of makes sense that this would be the final boss." 

Watch Oliver's breakdown of the leaked tape below.