- The Republican National Convention in Cleveland was described as apocalyptic, with various mishaps and controversial moments.
- The convention focused on portraying Donald Trump as a skilled leader, but this message was undermined by the mismanagement of the event.
- The convention emphasized feelings over facts, with speakers expressing their personal beliefs as if they were truths.
- Trump's acceptance speech was light on policy and heavy on provoking emotions.
- Despite evidence showing declines in crime rates and illegal immigration, Trump's claims were not fact-checked or challenged.
- Newt Gingrich argued that feelings are as valid as facts, suggesting that candidates can create their own reality.
- Trump's campaign reportedly offered John Kasich a significant role in the administration, but with little actual power.
- Trump's focus seems to be more on attention and feelings rather than the hard work of governing.

- The video criticizes Donald Trump and his presidency
- It mentions that Trump may be a hands-off president, which could be a better scenario than if he were hands-on
- The video highlights Trump's controversial statements and actions, including retaliating against journalists and endorsing torture
- It mentions Trump's message of making the world safe and compares it to that of strongmen leaders
- The video references a music video from The Apprentice that portrays Trump as a dictator
- It warns that unless people are careful, Trump's dictatorship mentality could become America's new national anthem

John Oliver discusses last week's unsurprisingly surprising Republican convention. 

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-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ The Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

The most apocalyptic thing ever to happen to that city.

And bear in mind, their river has repeatedly caught fire.

Now, it has been over for a few days, but we thought it might be worth taking a few extra minutes to try and figure out what the f*** just happened.

Because you know you are dealing with a pretty unconventional convention when a speaker opens with this statement.

I am the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The only way that would have made sense is if his next words were, and I have clearly sleepwalked here, please gently walk me from the stage and return me to my family.

Now, he was actually there to speak to Donald Trump's business acumen, a repeated theme throughout the whole week.

When Donald Trump is in charge, all that counts is ability, effort, and excellence.

He has created jobs for thousands and is 1 of the greatest visionaries of our time.

Now, now, before you laugh, you cannot say Trump isn't a visionary.

For a long time, he was the only 1 who envisioned himself as a presidential nominee.

He is basically what happens if the secret gets into the wrong hands.

But that message of Trump as a skilled manager was somewhat undercut by the fact The entire convention was a mismanaged shit show.

From Melania Trump using a partly plagiarized speech, to Ted Cruz being booed off the stage for not endorsing Donald Trump, to the fact that supposedly, Donald Trump knew Ted Cruz wouldn't endorse him and didn't care.

The decision came as no surprise to Trump, who tweeted, I saw his speech 2 hours early, but let him speak anyway.

If the captain of the Titanic had tweeted after the fact, I saw that iceberg 2 hours before and sailed into it anyway, no big deal.

You wouldn't think, wow, that captain sure ran a tight ship.

It's actually fitting that Trump had seemingly done so little to prepare for his party's convention, given that the Party itself had done so little to prepare for Donald Trump.

After the last election, the GOP published a post-mortem report titled, The Growth and Opportunity Project, analyzing their mistakes and laying out a plan to expand their appeal.

Now, it featured passages like, many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country, and we must emphasize the importance of a welcoming, inclusive message, in particular when discussing issues that relate directly to a minority group.

Unfortunately, over the past year, that report and its carefully considered suggestions has been overshadowed by a different report titled, Literally Everything Donald Trump Has Ever Said And Done.

Because this is a guy who suggested building a wall to keep Mexicans out, and advocated a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

So, it's like making a New Year's resolution to eat healthy, and then spending the next year only eating meals so large, that they're free if you eat them in 1 sitting.

-♪ ♪ -♪ But amazingly, through all the chaos and confusion this week, 1 theme did emerge, and it was accidentally summarized best, and I can't believe I'm saying this, by Antonio Sabato Jr., an IMDb page awarded actor, who delivered a relatively restrained speech before opening his heart regarding President Obama to ABC News.

First of all, I don't believe that the guy is a Christian.

I don't believe he follows, the God that I love and the Jesus that I love.

You believe that President Obama is a Muslim?

I have the right to believe that, and you have the right to go against that, but I believe it.

Now, what's revealing there isn't his mistaken belief that President Obama is a Muslim.

It's also not the big shock that Antonio Sabato Jr., star of the actual VH1 reality show, My Antonio, is still both alive and an idiot.

No, what is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true.

Because if anything, that was the theme of the Republican convention this week.

It was a four-day exercise in emphasizing feelings over facts.

People around the country feel the Obama administration has kicked them to the curb.

Our country right now is in a very bad spot.

The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe.

There's a lot of Americans out there who feel like Democrat politicians have taken them for granted.

Incidentally, feelings are supposed to be irrelevant is a phrase that's inscribed on every British marriage certificate.

--LAUGHTER --And this focus, this focus on feelings reached its apex in Donald Trump's acceptance speech, which was light on concrete policy, but heavy on provoking strong emotions.

Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed.

I know that corruption has reached a level like never, ever before in our country.

Poverty and violence at home, war and destruction abroad, 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal War and

illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.

He sounds like he's about to announce the first annual Hunger Games.

But, look, it is worth noting that since President Obama took office, crime rates, the flow of illegal immigrants over our borders, and claims for unemployment benefits have all declined.

And yet, frighteningly, when reporters started pointing that out, it didn't seem to matter.

Just watch as Newt Gingrich brushed off any effort to fact-check Trump's claims about the U.S.

Then how come it's up in Chicago, up in Baltimore,

pockets where certainly we have not tackled murder across.

Your national capital, your third biggest city.

But violent crime across the country is down.

The average American, I will bet you this morning, does not think crime is down, does not think they are safer.

It's only a fact that that's a feeling people have.

This is a graph of the violent crime rate.

You can't infer anything you like from it.

And sure, you can cherry pick recent upticks in some cities, but the overall trend across the country during the Obama presidency, and indeed, for the last 25 years, is down.

The current view is that liberals have a whole set of statistics which theoretically may be right, but it's not where human beings are.

Speaker, because you're saying liberals use these numbers, they use this sort of magic map.

They feel it, but the facts don't support

As a political candidate, I'll go with how people feel, and I'll let you go with the theoreticians.

He just brought a feeling to a f**king fact fight.

And it is worth taking just a moment to seriously consider what Gingrich was saying there.

Because think about it, I think we can all agree that candidates can create feelings in people.

And what Gingrich is saying is that feelings are as valid as facts.

So then, by the transitive property, candidates can create facts, which is terrifying, because that means someone like Donald Trump can essentially create his own reality, and that is the closest thing to an actual magic spell I think I've ever seen.

And if you're thinking, well, hold on, eventually reality will set in, because if elected, Trump would actually have to deal with facts.

Just this week, the Times reported that not only was John Kasich asked if he had any interest in the vice presidency by the Trump campaign, he was offered quite a lot more.

Even called 1 of John Kasich's top aides and said that if he wanted the job, he could even be in charge of foreign and domestic policy, which, of course, is kind of everything.

The only thing that is not foreign policy or domestic policy is space policy, which leads me to believe Donald Trump's entire goal is to eventually own the moon.

But it gets better, because apparently, when K6 advisors asked what Trump would be in charge of, the response was, -"Making America Great Again." -$1.5 billion.

Which objectively is not a job, but I guess it feels like 1, and it seems that's all that fucking matters now.

Now, the Trump family disputed that story, naturally, but it does often seem like Trump is more interested in attention than the hard work of getting things done in a complicated political system.

Just last night, he tweeted out what seemed to be his main takeaway from this convention.

First, 24 out of 75 is 32 percent, not 33, But that doesn't matter.

The point is, look, the point is, the notion that Donald Trump would be a hands-off president might actually represent the best-case scenario here.

The much more frightening prospect would be if he were hands-on.

Because between those 24 minutes of applause was a symphony of bile and race-baiting.

Remember, this is a man who has retaliated against journalists, and at various points has advocated killing terrorist families, endorsed torture, and expressed admiration for leaders like Kim Jong-un, Saddam Hussein, and Vladimir Putin.

His message this week was the message of every strong man ever.

The world is dangerous, and only I can make you safe.

And if that sounds scary, there have been warning signs.

Just Watch this DVD extra from the first season of The Apprentice.

And it gives you a sense of how Donald Trump envisions himself.

master ♪ -♪ This is a dictatorship, and I'm the dictator.

-♪ Slave to the master ♪ -♪ There's no voting, there's no jury.

It's funny now to hear him say he's a dictator as a voice in the background says, -"Slave to the master," over and over again.

-♪ But unless we're careful, by this time next year, that could be America's new national anthem.


Speaker 0: -♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ The Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The most apocalyptic thing ever to happen to that city. And bear in mind, their river has repeatedly caught fire. Now, it has been over for a few days, but we thought it might be worth taking a few extra minutes to try and figure out what the f*** just happened. Because you know you are dealing with a pretty unconventional convention when a speaker opens with this statement.

Speaker 1: My name is Dana White. I am the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Speaker 0: The only way that would have made sense is if his next words were, and I have clearly sleepwalked here, please gently walk me from the stage and return me to my family. They are very worried. Now, he was actually there to speak to Donald Trump's business acumen, a repeated theme throughout the whole week.

Speaker 2: He gets stuff done. Donald Trump is a proven leader.

Speaker 3: Innovator. Entrepreneur. When Donald Trump is in charge, all that counts is ability, effort, and excellence.

Speaker 4: He has created jobs for thousands and is 1 of the greatest visionaries of our time.

Speaker 0: Now, now, before you laugh, you cannot say Trump isn't a visionary. For a long time, he was the only 1 who envisioned himself as a presidential nominee. He is basically what happens if the secret gets into the wrong hands. But that message of Trump as a skilled manager was somewhat undercut by the fact The entire convention was a mismanaged shit show. From Melania Trump using a partly plagiarized speech, to Ted Cruz being booed off the stage for not endorsing Donald Trump, to the fact that supposedly, Donald Trump knew Ted Cruz wouldn't endorse him and didn't care.

Speaker 4: The decision came as no surprise to Trump, who tweeted, I saw his speech 2 hours early, but let him speak anyway. No big deal.

Speaker 0: Yeah. But that's not reassuring. If the captain of the Titanic had tweeted after the fact, I saw that iceberg 2 hours before and sailed into it anyway, no big deal. You wouldn't think, wow, that captain sure ran a tight ship. But you know what?

It's actually fitting that Trump had seemingly done so little to prepare for his party's convention, given that the Party itself had done so little to prepare for Donald Trump. After the last election, the GOP published a post-mortem report titled, The Growth and Opportunity Project, analyzing their mistakes and laying out a plan to expand their appeal. Now, it featured passages like, many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country, and we must emphasize the importance of a welcoming, inclusive message, in particular when discussing issues that relate directly to a minority group. Unfortunately, over the past year, that report and its carefully considered suggestions has been overshadowed by a different report titled, Literally Everything Donald Trump Has Ever Said And Done. Because this is a guy who suggested building a wall to keep Mexicans out, and advocated a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

So, it's like making a New Year's resolution to eat healthy, and then spending the next year only eating meals so large, that they're free if you eat them in 1 sitting. -♪ ♪ -♪ But amazingly, through all the chaos and confusion this week, 1 theme did emerge, and it was accidentally summarized best, and I can't believe I'm saying this, by Antonio Sabato Jr., an IMDb page awarded actor, who delivered a relatively restrained speech before opening his heart regarding President Obama to ABC News.

Speaker 5: First of all, I don't believe that the guy is a Christian. I don't believe he follows, the God that I love and the Jesus that I love.

Speaker 6: You believe that President Obama is a Muslim? Absolutely. Absolutely. Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 2: And that is based on

Speaker 6: what you feel in your heart?

Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what I believe, yeah. And you know what? I have the right to believe that, and you have the right to go against that, but I believe it.

Speaker 0: Now, what's revealing there isn't his mistaken belief that President Obama is a Muslim. It's also not the big shock that Antonio Sabato Jr., star of the actual VH1 reality show, My Antonio, is still both alive and an idiot. No, what is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. Because if anything, that was the theme of the Republican convention this week. It was a four-day exercise in emphasizing feelings over facts.

Speaker 6: People around the country feel the Obama administration has kicked them to the curb.

Speaker 2: Our country right now is in a very bad spot. You can feel it. The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe.

Speaker 4: There's a lot of Americans out there who feel like Democrat politicians have taken them for granted.

Speaker 2: The whole economy feels stuck.

Speaker 0: What do you mean, it feels stuck? The economy is about numbers. Feelings are supposed to be irrelevant. Incidentally, feelings are supposed to be irrelevant is a phrase that's inscribed on every British marriage certificate. --LAUGHTER --And this focus, this focus on feelings reached its apex in Donald Trump's acceptance speech, which was light on concrete policy, but heavy on provoking strong emotions.

Speaker 2: Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed. I know that corruption has reached a level like never, ever before in our country. Poverty and violence at home, war and destruction abroad, 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal War and

Speaker 0: destruction abroad. 180000

Speaker 2: illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.

Speaker 0: Holy shit! He sounds like he's about to announce the first annual Hunger Games. But, look, it is worth noting that since President Obama took office, crime rates, the flow of illegal immigrants over our borders, and claims for unemployment benefits have all declined. And yet, frighteningly, when reporters started pointing that out, it didn't seem to matter. Just watch as Newt Gingrich brushed off any effort to fact-check Trump's claims about the U.S.

Crime rate.

Speaker 3: Violent crime is down. The economy

Speaker 2: is ticking up. It is not down in the biggest cities.

Speaker 3: Violent crime murder rate is down.

Speaker 2: It is down. Then how come it's up in Chicago, up in Baltimore,

Speaker 0: up in Washington?

Speaker 2: There are

Speaker 3: pockets where certainly we have not tackled murder across.

Speaker 2: Your national capital, your third biggest city.

Speaker 3: But violent crime across the country is down.

Speaker 2: The average American, I will bet you this morning, does not think crime is down, does not think they are safer.

Speaker 3: But it is. We are safer and it is down.

Speaker 2: No, that's your view. I just told you now. These are the national FBI facts. But what I said is also a fact.

Speaker 0: No, it isn't! No, it isn't! It's only a fact that that's a feeling people have. This is a graph of the violent crime rate. It's not a fucking Rorschach test.

You can't infer anything you like from it. And sure, you can cherry pick recent upticks in some cities, but the overall trend across the country during the Obama presidency, and indeed, for the last 25 years, is down. But, Newt wasn't done.

Speaker 2: The current view is that liberals have a whole set of statistics which theoretically may be right, but it's not where human beings are.

Speaker 3: But what you're saying

Speaker 6: is, but hold

Speaker 3: on, Mr. Speaker, because you're saying liberals use these numbers, they use this sort of magic map. This is the FBI statistics. They're not a liberal organization. They're a

Speaker 2: crime-fighting organization. What I said is equally true. People feel more threatened.

Speaker 3: They feel it, but the facts don't support

Speaker 2: it. Fine. As a political candidate, I'll go with how people feel, and I'll let you go with the theoreticians.

Speaker 0: He brought... He just brought a feeling to a f**king fact fight. And it is worth taking just a moment to seriously consider what Gingrich was saying there. Because think about it, I think we can all agree that candidates can create feelings in people. And what Gingrich is saying is that feelings are as valid as facts.

So then, by the transitive property, candidates can create facts, which is terrifying, because that means someone like Donald Trump can essentially create his own reality, and that is the closest thing to an actual magic spell I think I've ever seen. And if you're thinking, well, hold on, eventually reality will set in, because if elected, Trump would actually have to deal with facts. Well, I'm not so sure about that. Just this week, the Times reported that not only was John Kasich asked if he had any interest in the vice presidency by the Trump campaign, he was offered quite a lot more.

Speaker 6: Donald Trump Jr. Even called 1 of John Kasich's top aides and said that if he wanted the job, he could even be in charge of foreign and domestic policy, which, of course, is kind of everything.

Speaker 0: Yeah! Exactly! The only thing that is not foreign policy or domestic policy is space policy, which leads me to believe Donald Trump's entire goal is to eventually own the moon. But it gets better, because apparently, when K6 advisors asked what Trump would be in charge of, the response was, -"Making America Great Again." -$1.5 billion. Which objectively is not a job, but I guess it feels like 1, and it seems that's all that fucking matters now.

Now, the Trump family disputed that story, naturally, but it does often seem like Trump is more interested in attention than the hard work of getting things done in a complicated political system. Just last night, he tweeted out what seemed to be his main takeaway from this convention. ♪♪ -♪♪ -♪♪ Okay. Okay. ♪♪ Okay.

Okay. First, 24 out of 75 is 32 percent, not 33, But that doesn't matter. That clearly doesn't matter. The point is, look, the point is, the notion that Donald Trump would be a hands-off president might actually represent the best-case scenario here. The much more frightening prospect would be if he were hands-on.

Because between those 24 minutes of applause was a symphony of bile and race-baiting. Remember, this is a man who has retaliated against journalists, and at various points has advocated killing terrorist families, endorsed torture, and expressed admiration for leaders like Kim Jong-un, Saddam Hussein, and Vladimir Putin. His message this week was the message of every strong man ever. The world is dangerous, and only I can make you safe. And if that sounds scary, there have been warning signs.

Just Watch this DVD extra from the first season of The Apprentice. It's a music video they made. And it gives you a sense of how Donald Trump envisions himself. -♪ Slave to the

Speaker 2: master ♪ -♪ This is a dictatorship, and I'm the dictator. -♪ Slave to the master ♪ -♪ There's no voting, there's no jury. -♪ Sweet, sweet, sweet...

Speaker 0: -♪

Speaker 2: Dictator. No jury. D-D-Dictator. No jury.

Speaker 0: Oh, sure. It's funny now to hear him say he's a dictator as a voice in the background says, -"Slave to the master," over and over again. -♪ But unless we're careful, by this time next year, that could be America's new national anthem. You

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Republican National Convention: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)