Here’s What Happens When John Oliver Tries to Take Donald Trump’s Biggest Campaign Promise Seriously


John Oliver continued his campaign to #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain this week with a takedown of the Republican front-runner’s repeated calls to build a massive wall at the US-Mexico border—a plan Trump first introduced last June with the inflammatory statement that Mexicans were crime-peddling “rapists.”

“The border wall is one of the few policy proposals Trump has talked about in details, so instead of mocking or dismissing it out of hand, let’s take a serious proposal by a serious presidential candidate seriously,” Oliver said.

The Last Week Tonight host went on to expose the major problems with the real estate magnate’s signature immigration policy (other than the sheer xenophobia embedded in the plan), explaining to viewers that such a wall would likely cost $26 billion—far more than the $4 billion Trump tells his supporters it would take.

“It’s a big dumb thing that only gets more expensive over time,” Oliver said. “It’s like getting a pet walrus: You think it’s stupid now—wait until you learn what a bucket of sea cucumbers costs. You’re not prepared for that.”

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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