John Oliver has exposed President Donald Trump’s biggest suck-up.
Trump has nominated acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, apparently his most devoted admirer, to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
On Sunday, Oliver, the Last Week Tonight host, dedicated a segment to Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer in all four of his criminal cases.
The nomination came just weeks after Blanche was handed the acting role when Trump pushed out Pam Bondi following her messy handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and what insiders described as failed efforts to prosecute the president’s political enemies.
To illustrate his point about Blanche’s independence, or lack thereof, Oliver rolled a clip of the acting AG waxing lyrical about his boss to reporters.
“It’s the greatest honor of a lifetime. And if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and I go back to being a dad, that’s an honor,” Blanche said. He then added, “If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say thank you very much. I love you, sir.”
“Jesus, Todd!” Oliver shouted. “There is sucking up and whatever that was!”
The host went on to joke that Blanche sounded like he was “freestyling a version of Green Eggs and Ham about what he’s willing to do for the president,” before unveiling the cover of a mock Dr. Seuss book his producers had created, titled Brown Nose Goes H.A.M.
Oliver then proceeded to read from it. “‘I’d kiss his a-- on a boat, I’d tickle his balls with a goat,’” he said, flipping through custom illustrations. “‘I love the president with my soul, I yield to him my every hole.’”
Despite the raucous studio reaction, the underlying story is no joke. Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April and has wasted little time using the office to go after Trump’s perceived enemies. He has moved to revive investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey since taking over.
Blanche greeted Trump’s nomination announcement with characteristic restraint, calling it “the honor of a lifetime.”
