In his latest segment, Last Week Tonight talk show host John Oliver pointed to the Republican National Convention (RNC) and noted that it seemed to be an excuse for GOP voters to vote for Trump without being called a racist.
“All this overt talk of racial harmony was very much in conflict with the steady diet of barely disguised racial panic that viewers were also being fed,” he said.
From RNC inviting the infamous McCloskeys, who waved their AR-15s at Black Lives Matters protestors, to be speakers to hammering down fear-mongering that finally led a Trump supporter to drive from Illinois to Kenosha and kill two protestors, Oliver presented some striking evidence.
He even exposed David Beth, a Kenosha Sheriff, who explained how “these people” should be stopped from reproducing, reflecting a sentiment held by Nazis.
I thought that not having an audience would make all the late night shows worse, but John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" has only gotten better.
This video of Kenosha sheriff David Beth has made the rounds, but Oliver really puts them into context here.pic.twitter.com/xnjH5XOGKN
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) August 31, 2020
And because this may be the best John Oliver segment ever — certainly it is the timeliest — you can watch the whole thing here:
Oliver’s segment was spurred by the events that happened in Kenosha over the previous week. Here’s everything you need to know about what is going on in Wisconsin.
Flickr / Taymaz Valley
A bystander recorded a video of Jacob Blake, 29, trying to get into his car and an officer opening fire — at least seven shots were heard. Officials reported that the police were at the scene in response to a domestic violence report.
Blake’s family revealed that he’s now paralyzed from the waist down, fighting for his life.
Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney wrote on Twitter that Blake’s three young sons were in the car during the shooting.
Confirmed: Jacob Blake’s 3 SONS were IN THE CAR he was getting into when @KenoshaPolice shot him tonight. They saw a cop shoot their father. They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our kids deserve better!! #JusticeForJacobBlake
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 24, 2020
YouTube/Screenshot
Jacob Blake’s shooting resulted in civil unrest in Kenosha.
A Facebook group referring to itself as the Kenosha Guard called on supporters to head downtown and “defend” the city. While it’s not known if the shooter responded to this call, he showed up armed and ready.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, demonstrators and armed men got into an altercation. A video doing the rounds on social media shows a young white male — now recognized as 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse — with a semi-automatic rifle as responsible for firing multiple shots into a group, killing two, and injuring one. The officers allowed Rittenhouse to leave the area even though others pointed him out as the shooter.
The teen was charged with first-degree homicide.
Buzzfeed News reported that Rittenhouse’s social media was filled with him posing with weapons and supporting Trump for president.
Joe Biden inspired a kid to face his stutterin' problem.
Donald Trump inspired a kid to go kill black people.https://t.co/HAx9EAoSnI
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) August 26, 2020
In fact, he even posted a TikTok video from Trump’s Des Moines, Iowa rally on January 30, cheering mere feet way from the president.
While the state’s department of justice is looking into the shooting, the officers involved in shooting Jacob Blake and paralyzing him, “have been placed on administrative leave.”
But Kenosha police did make some arrests — they arrested nine unpaid volunteers of Riot Kitchen, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization after a citizen tipped off the Kenosha Police Department to “several suspicious vehicles with out-of-state plates.”
They are now out on bail (which was paid from donations).
Let me get this straight - you can be arrested for providing free food at a protest, but not for carrying a semi-automatic weapon? What happened to common sense in law enforcement? https://t.co/or7UEShHwm via @seattletimes
— Chris Rilling🌊🌊🌊🌍 (@tokitaeII) August 28, 2020
Jennifer Scheurle, who serves on the nonprofit’s board of directors, told NBC News, “We’re not there to stir up anything. We just want to feed people. We support protesters of any kind.”
Screenshot / Instagram
President Trump was quick to call peaceful protestors “thugs” at his latest rally. But when asked to comment on Rittenhouse who shot and killed people in Kenosha, he found no words of condemnation.
He said, “You know that’s under investigation right now, and they’ll be reporting back to me … 48 hours maybe max, and we’ll have a comment about it. … We’re looking at it very, very carefully.”
On Monday, Trump suggested that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.
However, Donald Trump Jr. didn’t shy away from controversially retweeting YouTuber Tim Pool who said Rittenhouse is a “good example of why I decided to vote for Trump.”
That coward white Trump supporting shooter in Kenosha took a moment to call a friend and brag that he killed someone. Reminds me of the look on trump juniors face as he killed an endangered animal.
— American Veteran (@amvetsupport) August 28, 2020
Screenshot / YouTube
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson described the Trump-supporting 17-year-old who shot and killed protestors in Kenosha as a kid who decided he “had to maintain order” in the Democrat-run state because “no one else would.” Ann Coulter tweeted the shooter would make a good president.
Other Trump supporters repeated his sentiments.
The Intercept reported on several tweets that were calling Rittenhouse’s shooting “self-defense” — including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who tweeted that the kid killing protestors were “100% justified self defense.”
So, if we're talking about criminality. Are we not going to acknowledge that he is underage, carried a weapon across state lines, oh and also used that illegally owned weapon to kill someone?
— Steve (@faygoisthebest) August 26, 2020
Flickr / Gage Skidmore
President Trump still plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, even after Gov. Tony Evers wrote him a letter urging him to “reconsider” his visit to the city, saying he is concerned Trump’s “presence will only hinder our healing.”
Evers sent a letter to the White House Sunday, writing that he was also concerned that an in-person visit from the president “will require a massive re-direction” of resources to support his visit “at a time when it is critical that we continue to remain focused on keeping the people of Kenosha safe and supporting the community’s response.” Trump says he is going anyway.
Why go to Kenosha if it could exacerbate tensions?
Trump: "It could also increase…enthusiasm."
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) August 31, 2020
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement that Trump will still visit because the people of Kenosha “are longing for leadership to support local law enforcement and businesses that have been vandalized.”
Flickr / Peter Stevens
Although the White House confirmed Trump’s Tuesday visit to Wisconsin, the president is not slated to meet Jacob Blake or his family members because “lawyers would be involved.”
Trump just claimed that the reason he's not meeting with Jacob Blake's family in Wisconsin is that he didn't want lawyers involved, which makes perfect sense and totally checks out.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 31, 2020
Trump said,
I thought it would be better not to do anything where there are lawyers involved. They wanted me to speak but they wanted to have lawyers involved and I thought that was inappropriate so I didn’t do that.
Jacob Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Senior wanted their attorney Benjamin Crump to be present during the call “because while they’re concentrating on their son’s life they want us to concentrate on the fight for justice.”
It’s the protocol they followed when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris called on the family too.
Trump, however, said he had a “great talk” with the family’s pastor. Which is apparently just another bunch of lies:
Trump says he spoke to Jacob Blake's family pastor and had a “great talk."
Jacob Blake’s father responds: "We don't have a family pastor… I don't know who he talked to, I don't care who he talked to."https://t.co/5Xn1S6hdpd
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) August 31, 2020
