John Oliver Implores Donald Trump To Drop Out

On Sunday, Last Week Tonight audiences were treated to a classic Oliverian monologue that will surely keep them talking, at least until next week or maybe even the week after that. In the monologue, Oliver discusses a "third option" for Donald Trump beyond winning or losing the election come November that rings with a hilarious and thought-provoking effect. In fact, Oliver's suggestion to Trump is so funny and sobering that it might just be up there in his top monologues throughout the show's history.

Oliver began the monologue by discussing the various ways in which Trump and his campaign are cringe-worthy, at one point saying Trump's obsession with winning makes him "like an alien impersonating a human, but his only research is watching Charlie Sheen interviews." He then got to the meat of the monologue: he thinks that Trump has another option beyond just winning or losing the election, and that he should not only drop out, but do so to point out that he scammed Americans into supporting a candidate who would push such discriminatory rhetoric:

You didn't just expose the flaws in our political system – you exposed the flaws in us. ­Just think about how triumphant it would feel to say on national television, "I openly ran on a platform of impossibly ignorant proposals steeped in racial bigotry and nobody stopped me, in fact, you embraced me for it, what the f*** was that about?" That would be one of the most powerful political speeches of all time.

Adding to the absurd hilarity of the bit, Oliver went on to tell Trump (who he is now addressing directly, sometimes calling him "Donathan" or "Dondrew" affectionately) that there is a manual for dropping out of a race written in fifth-grade language. He presented a copy of The Kid Who Ran For President, a children's chapter book written by author Dan Gutman about a sixth grader who runs for president and wins on a platform of selfish, ignorant demands that surprisingly wins over his electorate (to which Oliver said "the parallels are f***ing uncanny here!"). He then has actor Will Arnett (of Arrested Development and former Mr. Amy Poehler fame) read two excerpts from the book — first, when the book's character gives his first campaign speech promising to abolish homework, and second, his indignant resignation speech after he's elected.

This certainly isn't the first or the last time audiences have seen Oliver hilariously wax poetic about Trump, but this bit was every bit as raw, poignant, and absurd as viewers expect from the former Daily Show funnyman. And it contains more than one startling kernel of truth — that this election has become so incredibly overexposed and circus-like that a fictional account of a pubescent boy becoming president actually draws parallels to reality, and that many people are imagining wild ways out. As per usual, Oliver is spot-on in his humorous analysis of our culture in ways that leave me wondering if I should laugh or cry.