News

John Oliver Is Airing A Commercial You Want To See

by Joseph D. Lyons

John Oliver is back with a vengeance. Donald Trump, yes, is president and Sunday was the first episode of Last Week Tonight since Inauguration Day. Obviously there was plenty to cover, and Oliver had something to say about everything from the weather in D.C. that day to the hilarious if frightening cabinet choices Trump has made.

But Oliver is not just on the air to tell jokes — the educational component of his show came through loud as day. He focused on Trump's often confusion with the truth, and then a plan to tackle it. Watch Oliver's commercials for Donald Trump and see what the president still needs to learn.

Now this is not just a joke. In Oliver's exploration of Trump's relationship with the truth, he ventured that Trump gets much of his information — or misinformation — from cable news. He used Trump's early morning tweets as an example to show why the best route into the president's brain is through cable news. He even plays a clip of Trump on Air Force One in which you hear loud television advertising in the background — "800-5-8-8-2-300, EMPIRE," no less. The man is glued to the tube.

Therefore, Oliver is buying air time on cable news channels — in particular, during the three major channels' respective morning shows — in the D.C. market to send Trump an important message, or messages, depending on how many of the spots he uses. They're styled after a real-life catheter commercial that plays on cable television, where an older cowboy basically overshares for 30 seconds. "I know pain, and I don't want any more of it — especially when I 'cath.'" Seriously.

The version running this week starts off talking about catheters but then focuses on the U.S.'s nuclear weapons policy just in case there are viewers who "really needs to know that." Trump will surely be tuning in — lets hope he doesn't miss it while flipping channels.

Because, evidently, the president isn't terribly familiar with what the "nuclear triad" is — and the man has the nuclear codes. Oliver played video of Trump being asked about the triad at a debate, and he "flubbed" the answer. At the time headlines ran like "Trump's Terrifying Nuke Answer at the Debate Should End His Campaign (But It Won't)." How prescient.

Trump's answer to which third of the triad he would prioritize — among land-based intercontinental missiles, and those launched from air and sea — is pretty telling. His response? "I think – I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me," Trump said, clearly evading. Fast forward a year, and in January he signed an executive order to reinvest in the nuclear weapons system. The whole triad is being upgraded.

So let's hope the president listens to Oliver's ad. There's some necessary knowledge there:

Attention catheter patients! I'm a professional cowboy and I use catheters, been cowboyin' for 25 years and there's two things I know. I don't like pain when I "cath," and the nuclear triad consists of land-based missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and aerial bombers. This increases our ability to strike back in the event that one of those is destroyed, and deters an attack on us or our allies. So that's the nuclear triad — in case you're the kind of person who might really need to know that.

If you're up Monday morning in the D.C. area, tune in to cable news. It will air between 8:30 and 9 a.m. ET. Then make sure to check out the YouTube video for the other possible ad spots — because there's lots that Oliver assumes Trump doesn't know.