“Fake” news host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver, is apparently trying to “teach” Trump about healthcare, through advertising on Fox News’ Fox and Friends. The liberal comedian bought ad time on the news network to play spoof ads for his show, where an actor talks directly to the camera, pleading with the president to reconsider repealing the Affordable Care Act, the Washington Post reported. Adweek added that Oliver was trying “to teach Trump about healthcare,” while the Huffington Post gushed it was “an advertising masterpiece.” The irony of a comedian buying ad time to teach the president about healthcare seemed to have escaped the media.
On his latest show, Oliver revealed the ad in a segment trashing the Republican healthcare replacement. It’s “universally hated in Washington,” he touted; "it is truly the Ted Cruz of health-care legislation."
After touting concerns about increased costs and “millions losing coverage,” Oliver exclaimed, “It’s f***ing important that everyone understands what’s in it!” (Words Democrats like Nancy Pelosi lived by when promoting Obamacare, right?)
“Somebody needs to explain this to him, and since he is clearly still watching Fox and Friends, we might actually be able to help here,” Oliver began before playing the spoof ad that will air during this Wednesday’s morning show.
The ad is a spoof on the “cowboy catheter” commercials and features a cowboy telling Trump why this healthcare plan would be terrible for people like him.
“Who better to tell Trump what this bill will do than someone who stands to be hurt by it? Someone in his 60s, in rural America, with an unspecified medical problem that requires constant treatment?” Oliver introduced the video.
In the short ad, an elderly actor dressed as a cowboy talks directly to Trump, appealing to Trump’s desire to be popular, and mocking his remark about not knowing healthcare would be “complicated.”
This is the second time Oliver has tried to “teach” Trump about an issue through a paid ad. Last month, Oliver paid for another spoof ad on the nuclear triad, that was played during the Fox and Friends and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, two shows that Trump has mentioned being a faithful viewer of in the past.
