John Oliver Blasts Donald Trump’s First Month in Office in ‘Last Week Tonight’ Return

Last Week Tonight returned for its Season 12 premiere on HBO on Sunday night (February 16), and host John Oliver shared his thoughts on President Donald Trump‘s first month in office.

Oliver unpacked several of Trump’s orders and plans, including scrapping diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, issuing a funding freeze on the United States Agency for International Development, which oversees humanitarian aid around the world, and upsetting trade partners Mexico and Canada with his tariff threats.

“This is all bonkers, terrifying, and darkly absurd,” Oliver said on Sunday’s show. “The next four years are going to feel incredibly s***. The potential for pain is devastating, as is the sheer amount of it that’s already been doled out.”

He continued by taking aim at the likes of Elon Musk, who is heading up the non-official Department of Government Efficiency and is hellbent on slashing what he deems to be ‘wasteful’ spending.

“We see wealthy, powerful men use the levers of government for their personal advantage as well as their personal grievances,” Oliver stated. “And we’re being governed by people who think good public policy consists of: ‘Cut off funding to anyone who isn’t me,’ ‘Make it illegal to mention people who are different from me,’ and ‘F*** it, let’s steal Canada while we’re at it.’”

Turning his attention to Trump’s dismantling of USAID, which has reportedly put more than 8,000 employees on leave and halted all overseas missions, Oliver noted how USAID helps prevent disease overseas and earns goodwill in other countries.

“But if you listened to Trump’s press secretary, you’d think that all we were doing with USAID money was complete nonsense,” he added, showing a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on C-SPAN claiming that funding was being spent on things such as a DEI musical in Ireland, a transgender opera in Colombia, and a transgender comic book in Peru.

“If that sounds like mostly bull**** and spin to you, it’s because it is,” Oliver responded. “Though I will say, ‘a DEI musical in Ireland, a transgender opera in Colombia, and a transgender comic book in Peru’ all sound like her best guesses for what Emilia Pérez is,” he quipped, referring to the Oscar-nominated Netflix musical.

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“But the thing is, not only is she wildly mischaracterizing some of those projects, the last three that she listed weren’t even funded by USAID, but by grants from the State Department,” the comedian continued. “Again and again, the Trump administration and Elon Musk have boosted misinformation about where USAID money has gone.”

Despite how terrible things look, Oliver urged his viewers to continue to fight, saying, “Now is absolutely not the time to be looking away and saying, ‘This is what you f***ers voted for’ and turning your backs, especially when there are many good people doing important work out there who you can both join and support.”

He acknowledged the next four years will be “exhausting,” adding, “and to get through this, we’re going to have to find a balance between acknowledging the hell of what is going on and finding the joy that can sustain us.”