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Video: John Oliver Says Trump 'Needs To Stop Lying To Coal Miners'
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 19, 2017
Modified Jun 19, 2017
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 19, 2017
Modified Jun 19, 2017
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Despite the fact that he talked about how much he loved miners on the campaign trail, John Oliver has more than a sneaking suspicion that Donald Trump has no idea what a coal miner does, nor how they do what they do: "It is not easy watching someone I doubt has done a day of hard labor in his life show how he thinks coal mining works, it's like watching a four-year-old play store," Oliver said. "He may well think it’s just running up to things that he wants and yelling, ‘MINE!'"
Oliver used the main segment of Last Week Tonight yesterday to expose many of the uncomfortable truths behind the fall of the coal industry—like that deregulation is less to blame than market forces like natural gas. He also calls out what he sees as Trump's disingenuous rhetoric: "Trump needs to stop lying to coal miners," Oliver said. "We all do. Stop telling them their jobs are all coming back when they're not, stop telling them that coal is clean when it isn't and stop pretending that this isn't an industry in the middle of a difficult and painful, albeit necessary, transition."
He also goes after Murray Energy CEO Bob Murray, especially in regards to employee safety and a mine collapse in 1997. Murray sent a cease-and-desist order to the show in anticipation of the piece, which ends with Oliver bringing out a talking squirrel named Mr. Nutterbutter.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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