John Oliver Tears Apart How We Select Our Presidential Nominees

Comedy Video
John Oliver Tears Apart How We Select Our Presidential Nominees

Still trying to make sense of that Clinton vs. Sanders brouhaha in Nevada last week? You can find any number of “explainers” online, even one here at Paste, but it boils down to this: the entire nomination process in America is intentionally opaque. Both parties have it set up where they can favor the nominee they want, regardless of who people vote for, and that’s why the story of this election cycle has been outsider candidates bumping against establishments that wish they’d go away. (Of course, their ability to fix the outcome is limited, and when you see one of those parties reluctantly nominating a dangerous fraud like Trump because their machinations couldn’t overcome the will of a misinformed people, well, maybe these arcane nomination rules aren’t so bad after all?) The whole thing is unnecessarily complex, different for each party and changes from state to state, as “British Milhouse” John Oliver explains in this clip from last night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, and it’s all rooted in the fact that the people don’t directly elect the President. Take a look if you want to be discouraged about politics all over again.

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