By: Natalie Norman-Kehe

During the February 28th episode of “Last Week Tonight” host, John Oliver, focused on the reasons why Presidential candidate Donald Trump should not be elected president. The over 20 minute long segment has since gone viral on YouTube with over 21 million views. In typical John Oliver fashion, the segment had a comedic tone but was also full of logical and factual points on why Trump should not be the next president of the United States. These were his main points:

1. Many of his supporters believe that Trump “tells it like it is,” but in reality, that’s not the case. Oliver stated that Politifact.com, a website which fact checks what politicians say, checked 77 of his statements and found that 76 of those statements were varying degrees of false. So although some may believe that his lack of political correctness is just what the United States needs, he not only lacks political correctness, but correctness altogether. Whether Trump knows the truth and is lying or he simply is not educated on the words coming out of his mouth, either way both possibilities makes this man unequipped to be the next president of our country.
2. Another common misconception that Oliver addresses is that Trump is truly independent. Many of his supporters believe that he self funds his campaign; however, that’s not the case. When asked in an interview how much money Trump has spent on his campaign so far, he answered that he has spent around 20-25 million dollars.  Oliver points out that it’s true that Trump has not taken any corporate money but it’s not true that he has personally spent that much money on his campaign. In actuality, Trump has loaned his campaign 17 million dollars and has personally given only $250,000. He also has stated that he can pay himself back the loan with the campaign funds. His campaign has taken in over $7,500,000 in donations and his website is equipped with two donate buttons on the home page.
3. People believe that Trump is tough, and his toughness will make him a great president. However, he’s a lot less tough than many people believe. For years, Trump has threatened people with lawsuits, whether it’s actress Rosie O’Donnell, rapper Mac Miller, political analyst Lawrence O’Donnell, or the magazine Vanity Fair. He’s threatened all of them, but followed through with none of the lawsuits. He’s virtually all talk and no action.
4. Although it’s believed by many that Trump is extremely successful and therefore will make our country successful, he hasn’t always been so affluent. In the past, Trump has lost a huge amount of money, and how can we be sure that he won’t loose a huge amount of the country’s money when we’re already in so much debt? Trump’s campaign also claims that the presidential candidate is worth 10 billion dollars, but Oliver points out that author, Timothy L. O’Brien, claims that Trump is worth a mere 150-250 million dollars. Trump refuted O’Brien’s claim by suing the author for 5 billion dollars. Trump lost the lawsuit twice. Many of Trump’s business ventures have tragically fallen through. Some of these include: Trump Shuttle, Trump Vodka, Trump Magazine, Trump World Magazine, Trump University, GoTrump.com, TrumpMortgage.com (which he created in 2006 before the recession), Trump Towers Baja, Mexico and Trump Towers Tampa, Florida.
5. Trump is nothing but a mascot to a brand that he has created for himself. This mascot has been seen on the Apprentice, Wrestlemania, and Home Alone 2. Americans need to stop looking at him as the Mascot and start looking at him as the man behind the brand.  
6. Trump does not have a set of coherent policies that he stands by, but instead changes his opinions as time goes on. He has been pro-life and pro-choice, for and against assault-weapon bans, in favor of bringing in syrian refugees and in favor of deporting them out of the country. At least with other Republican candidates such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, the American people know where their stance is. Some of Trump’s beliefs that he has expressed in the past are offensive to many people. He has stated that he believes vaccines are causing an autism epidemic, Mexico is sending the US rapists, that the best way to fight ISIS is to commit a war crime and kill the terrorists families.

So although Trump may seem like he can solve all the problems this country faces, maybe you should think again. Are his solutions really so perfect? Is he really telling the truth? What can he do, that someone more experienced, respectful and honest can’t?