“It’s a big, dumb thing that only gets more expensive over time.”
John Oliver Sunday night hilariously destroyed the symbol of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign: a wall on the Mexican border.
“The border wall is one of the few policy proposals Trump has talked about in detail,” Oliver reminded his viewers. “So instead of mocking or dismissing it out of hand, tonight let’s take a serious proposal by a serious presidential candidate seriously.”
Oliver proceeds to debunk Trump’s claims that Mexico will pay for it, then annihilates Trump’s credibility as a real estate mogul by showing clips of Trump saying it will cost $4 billion, and slowly increasing and ultimately tripling his own estimate to $12 billion.
The “Last Week Tonight” host reveals Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” more likely “will conservatively cost $25 billion, excluding both maintenance and the land under it,” and that’s just for starters.
“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that wall maintenance costs will exceed the initial construction costs within seven years,” Oliver says. “It’s a big, dumb thing that only gets more expensive over time. It’s like getting a pet walrus: you think it’s stupid now, but wait until you learn what a bucket of sea cucumbers costs. You’ve not prepared for that.”
Oliver continues to demolish Trump’s wall by showing a clip of Trump explaining what the wall will be made of, and how high it will be.
“There’s no ladder going over that,” Trump says about a 50-foot high wall. “If they ever get up there they’re in trouble, ’cause there’s no way to get down,” Trump insists, then concedes, “Maybe a rope.”
“Yes,” Oliver repeats. “Maybe a rope. Your brilliant plan has been undone by mankind’s third invention.”
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Image: Screenshot via LastWeekTonight/YouTube
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