Not wanting to dedicate any more of his June Last Week Tonight episodes to presidential failures, John Oliver instead ended the month by going after Trump’s porcelain vice-lackey Mike Pence, who claimed last week that the administration successfully “flattened the curve†of the coronavirus and was able to “stand up the resources†to prevent further spread. Oliver, and basic scientific insight, have to disagree. “The U.S. is now setting records for daily new cases as the virus surges around the country, which makes it both startling — and frankly, infuriating — that on Friday, the vice-president made this declaration,†he said about Pence’s comments. “What?! That is just such an open and stupid lie. It’s like instead of saying, ‘Your dog is on a farm upstate,’ your dad said, ‘Your dog owns a farm upstate that has the market cornered in wholesale wheat and grain supplies for the entirety of Saratoga County.’ That’s not true. The dog is dead, and so, by the way, are over 120,000 Americans.â€
“On top of that, Pence also conspicuously omitted wearing a mask from advice that he gave for slowing the spread of the virus,†Oliver continued, although the VP has now conquered his fear of face coverings and is advocating for their use. “And I will just never understand why, or how, the Republicans have made ‘not spreading disease’ into a culture-war issue.†It’s particularly startling to Oliver, given that he thinks there was a “missed opportunity†for the party to act on. “You could have printed ‘Make America Great Again’ on a billion red masks and dropped them out of helicopters,†he explained. “People would have worn them! You’re not even capitalizing on a national disaster correctly, you fucking idiots!†Just think of all those plastic gloves looking for advertising. Or bottles of hand sanitizer. Or hazmat suits! This must be exactly how Don Draper felt at the end of Mad Men.