HBO’s Last Week Tonight host John Oliver unloaded on Democrats for not effectively mobilizing to stop the pro-life movement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade, claiming that Democrats had time to react, given that a draft opinion had been leaked last month.
“There’s a huge amount of understandable rage right now, and there are certainly plenty of individuals and institutions worthy of that anger,” Oliver said, before lambasting Democrats for their “failure” to “effectively mobilize to stop” the pro-life movement.
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“It has been dispiriting to see so many Democrats this week utterly fail to meet the moment — a moment, by the way, they had nearly two months to plan for,” John Oliver continued, referring to last month, when a draft Supreme Court opinion overruling Roe v. Wade leaked to the press.
“Nancy Pelosi read a poem, one Rep. tweeted a picture of himself doing yoga, and so many Democrats sent out requests for money, really fulfilling that old Democratic adage: ‘When they go low, we ask you for 15 dollars,'” the HBO host exclaimed.
Oliver then praised Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for sounding off against the Court’s life-saving decision, as well as the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, which stated, “This is some bullshit.”
“I don’t meant to suggest all Democrats fell short. Some like Cori Bush and AOC seemed to understand what people were going through, as did, by the way, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, which released a statement, saying, and I quote, ‘This is some bullshit,'” he said.
“And I am not saying that all I want from leaders is shows of anger, but it has been depressing to see so many of them treat the end of Roe v. Wade with the solemnity of a funeral instead of the urgency of a fucking cardiac arrest,” Oliver continued.
“And they stand in stark contrast to the groups on the ground who have displayed that urgency for years now,” the HBO host added. “They fought relentlessly as abortion rights have been chipped away all over the country, and they have worked tirelessly to find ways around each restriction and provide health care services for those that have been denied them, even when it was very hard.”
Oliver also claimed that a post Roe v. Wade America is “absolutely horrifying,” and claimed that “forced pregnancy could be a death sentence.”
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