August 21, 2017

John Oliver Blasts Republicans and Fox News for Failing to Condemn Trump by Name

He also explained why Charlottesville isn’t likely to be a turning point for the White House.

John Oliver on Sunday took on Republicans and Fox News for failing to condemn President Donald Trump by name last week, after the president claimed there were some “very fine” people who participated in the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one woman was killed and many were injured.

“If you’re getting emotionally overwhelmed and feeling judged for defending Trump and his Nazi-sympathizing phase, stop fucking doing it,” Oliver said, after airing a Fox News clip of an anchor crying while defending Trump’s controversial remarks.

“It’s that simple. No one’s making you do it,” Oliver added.

According to Last Week Tonight, only 54 out of 292 Republican members of Congress denounced the president by name. Everyone else, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, issued blanket statements condemning hate groups, while attempting to dodge the responsibility of calling out Trump for fueling the country’s rise of white nationalism.

“The problem with not mentioning him is that it suggests that he is somehow not a key part of the problem here.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX4Djw8D36M

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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