The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union late last week, and the immediate consequences were devastating. The full break will formally take two years and could kick out disastrous financial effects for much longer. On Sunday night, John Oliver finally had the opportunity to follow up on his arguments to remain. He could have claimed to have fallen on deaf ears, but sadly, that particular deep-dive segment was not aired in the U.K., which Oliver notes is now a “sarcastic” way to refer to the four countries.
Oliver doesn’t celebrate how he was correct, nor does he toss confetti at Prime Minister David Cameron’s almost immediate resignation. He imagines that he should be happy, but that would be “like catching an ice cream cone out of the air because a child was hit by a car.” He rips into Cameron’s fateful decision to hold the referendum and drops an obligatory pig joke. From there, the host rips into Nigel Farage (leader of the U.K. Independence Party), who admitted that one of the most convincing Leave campaign promises was “a mistake.” And Oliver crucifies Brits who felt their votes were make-believe, which is a sentiment that observers cannot understand.
However, the widespread “Bregret” over the referendum’s outcome forecasts what many fear will happen in the United States. Some suspect that Donald Trump isn’t taking the presidency seriously, and his supporters aren’t worried about his lack of political experience. Indeed, Trump’s foreign policy expertise includes believing that Scotland voted for independence in the Brexit referendum. Oliver shreds Trump and outlines a cautionary tale:
“He found a way to make the whole thing about himself, tweeting: ‘Many people are equating BREXIT, and what is going on in Great Britain, with what is happening in the U.S. People want their country back!’ And you might think, well, that is not going to happen to us in America. We’re not going to listen to some ridiculously haired buffoon peddling lies and nativism in the hopes of riding a protest vote into power. Well, let Britain tell you, it can happen, and when it does, there are no f*cking do-overs.”
Those last words refer to Oliver’s reaction to rumors of a second, do-over vote for U.K. citizens. This notion has been powered by three million signatures on a petition, which was actually created in May by Leave supporter William Oliver Healey, who says the petition was “hijacked.” Well, Bregret has taken over the U.K., but British Parliament would be hard pressed to not see the original referendum through to the bitter end.
Oliver’s ultimate point — “there are no f*cking do-overs” — should serve as a warning to U.S. voters, some of whom are already shouting for a Texit while looking forward to the Trump wall.