Guess what: despite what Donald Trump and his administration have been telling us, America has done a pretty bad job with testing for the coronavirus. From not starting early enough, to not doing it often enough, to still not having enough tests for everybody who needs one, this country’s response has been insufficient. John Oliver takes a look at all of this in the latest segment from Last Week Tonight, and despite some great jokes, it’s pretty hard to watch.
I know it’s his job and everything, but I’m still a little impressed by how John Oliver is able to constantly focus on stuff like this without losing his damned mind. Despite not leaving the house, the last two months have been the most exhausting I’ve ever experienced, and the absolute disconnect between what our nominal leaders say and the truth is a big reason why. I pretty much can’t handle looking at any news source anymore, and have gone from never muting any terms on Twitter to having a big long list of words I don’t ever want to see come across my feed again. Ignorance really isn’t bliss but at this point it’s a perfectly valid mental health strategy. So I can’t imagine how much of a toll it takes to produce weekly 20 minute deep dives into the staggering lack of compassion and competence that has defined our government’s actions during this crisis. Just the first minute or two of Oliver’s coronavirus videos wear me out, so thank God it’s not my job to actually research, write or host these segments.
If you want to see how badly we’ve failed, but, like, laugh at the same time, check out the video below. It is good and terrible and great and horrible.
Is it too early to pour myself a drink?