The fact that Trump lies non-stop isn’t particularly surprising, and at first glance, it seems like an odd topic for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which usually dives in to subjects you didn’t know much about like Special Districts or infrastructure. However, in its season premiere, the show decided to dig into the most fundamental problem facing all of us during the Trump administration, which is that our President believes and spreads a lot of falsehoods. Without a basic agreed upon reality, we can’t move forward with any reasonable solutions.

So for Last Week Tonight, it was important to understand four things: “1) How did we get a pathological liar in the White House?; 2) Where are his lies coming from?; 3) Why do so many people believe him?; and 4) And what can we possibly do about it?” And while everything may seem like a left-right issue, it’s not. Liberals are just as susceptible to being fooled (which is how Jill Stein made off with $7 million), and while we can have honest disagreements on a host of policy issues, if we shrug off the necessity of the truth just because it’s “our guy” in charge, then we’ve fallen prey to tribalism rather than rationality. To put it another way: All things being equal, if the opposing party was in charge, would you be okay with this?

I don’t believe any piece of entertainment, individually or collectively, can save us from the nightmare we’ve found ourselves in. It’s going to take real, prolonged action that is no way entertaining. However, entertainment can make dents, especially with this President who is so deeply dependent on what he sees on television. Last Week Tonight has found a clever and surprising way to get Trump to possibly learn a thing or two by purchasing commercial airtime during the cable news morning shows he watches.

Check out the segment below.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xecEV4dSAXE?ecver=2

last-week-tonight-season-4-poster