John Oliver devoted several minutes of Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight episode to slamming White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller in light of a few developments: (1) Miller’s recent clash with CNN’s Jim Acosta while promoting Trump’s plan to slash legal immigration but 50%; and (2) Those rumors that Miller is on the shortlist to replace the newly (hired and) ousted Anthony Scaramucci as Comms Director. Along the way, Oliver took multiple (arguably petty) shots about how many of Miller’s expressions can be compared to a Minion, but the segment was also full of substantive insight.
Oliver did spend some time rehashing Acosta’s confrontation with Miller, which saw the former quote “The New Colossus,” the infamous 1887 Emma Lazarus poem that was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in 1903. The “incredible exchange” somehow ended in Miller telling Acosta that he had no clue about English-speaking immigrants due to “cosmopolitan bias,” which was rich coming from a Santa Monica-bred attendee of Duke University. Yet Oliver was on the way to more offensive pastures.
The HBO host soon zeroed in on the 31-year-old Miller’s racially charged high-school election speech — during which he ragingly refused to pick up trash — that got him booed offstage. The speech has been floating around for months but went more mainstream last week, and Oliver sees this as an example of what could come, should Miller replace Mooch:
“Wow. He is truly one of the most revolting humans [and Minions] I have ever seen. You know, in a way, there is no more fitting spokesman for the Trump administration than an entitled, elitist asshole who refuses to take responsibility for the messes he makes, and who can somehow manage to pick a fight with a f*cking statue.”
Wouldn’t that be something if Miller became comms director? Who knows if Trump will go there, but if so, Steve Bannon could likely fill Miller’s void in the immigration-policy department. All too easily, in fact.
(Via HBO)