John Oliver on Sunday delivered a scathing analysis of the fallout from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, describing the past week as “total chaos.”
On “Last Week Tonight,” the host compared the current market turmoil to that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2008 financial crisis and the October 1987 crash. That last one, he said, was so dramatic that “Nightline” even brought in “Muppets” characters to explain it.
“What is clear is that he’s [Trump] destabilizing our economy with no real plan of action and all I’ll say is, if our next episode opens up with me sitting next to a chart of the NASDAQ and Miss Piggy, it means we are fucked,” quipped Oliver, a frequent referer to the puppets.
Beyond market panic, Oliver said that “maybe the most striking thing over the past two weeks has been the degree to which it’s become clear the world’s trust in America has been shattered.”
“This isn’t just the ordinary give and take of negotiations, countries are openly saying things are different now,” he added.
Oliver pointed to comments from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said: “The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday. The system of global trade anchored on the United States [...] is over. While this is a tragedy, this is also the new reality.”
“Wow,” Oliver responded. “That is a bleak thing to hear. ‘Tragedy is the new reality’ is a grim summation of the state of world affairs, but also, I’m just gonna say it, kind of a fucking bar. Honestly, you slap that title on a new Fall Out Boy album, the girls are going feral.”
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Watch Oliver’s full monologue here: