After a couple weeks off, John Oliver returned with a new episode of Last Week Tonight on Sunday, mocking Donald Trump for attacking Pope Leo XIV.
Several days ago, the Pope weighed in on the Iran war, saying that “whoever is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, never stands on the side of those who yesterday wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Noted Oliver: “It was one of a series of statements that made Trump lose his shit.”
The Last Week Tonight host then pointed to a lengthy post that Trump made on Truth Social that began with the statement that the Pope is “weak on crime.”
Which, Oliver said, “in terms of insults, just doesn’t work. It’s like saying this possum is weak on Balkan geography: OK, but who gives a shit? It’s not a possum’s job to correctly place Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map. Her job is to eat garbage, hang upside down and, by this evidence, fuck,” he joked, showing a photo of possums caring for multiple offspring.
Oliver then showed the image that Trump posted depicting him as a Christ-like figure, wearing a tunic with orbs of light coming out of his hands as if to heal someone. The image “understandably generated fierce backlash and his excuse was pretty weak,” Oliver said, showing a video of Trump explaining that “I thought it was me as a doctor.”
Responded Oliver: “Oh, that makes sense, a doctor. You know how when you go to the doctor and you get checked in by a nurse and a few bald eagles, and then the doctor comes in and he’s wearing an ancient tunic and says, ‘We’re gonna get you started on antibiotics and on orbs of light born from my very skin. Take them with food.’”
On Thursday, the president was asked about his feud with the Pope. Oliver showed a news clip in which Trump replied: “I’m not fighting with him. The Pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The reporter then fact-checked Trump, saying: “Pope Leo has never said Iran should have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump was then asked if he’d be willing to meet with the Pope, and he replied he didn’t think that a meeting was necessary.
“Yeah, I don’t really think it’s necessary either,” Oliver said on his HBO show. “This battle of words has not gone well for Trump. Plus, I don’t think they’d see eye to eye on much other than maybe whether it’s a good idea to cover your workplace in more gold shit than seems physically possible,” he joked, comparing Trump’s infamous gaudy decorating taste and the Vatican’s own aesthetic. “The point is, Trump seems to be on an epic run of picking losing fights, and whatever air of invincibility he had last year is fading fast, all of which is a pretty good reminder that one day he is gonna be gone.”
