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John Oliver Warns French Voters Not to Elect Another Donald Trump

2 minute read

John Oliver want French voters to be very, very careful in their upcoming election. Current president François Hollande is not running for reelection, so France is currently choosing from a field in which the two frontrunners are center-left candidate Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, president of the far-right National Front. “Honestly, she is the main reason you should be invested in this election,” Oliver said of Le Pen on Last Week Tonight.

Oliver warned French voters that their choices in the upcoming presidential race would have repercussions far outside the borders of their country. “One of the frustrating things about watching this unfold from America is this feels a little like déjà vu: a potentially destabilizing populist campaigning on anti-immigrant rhetoric who rages against the elites despite having a powerful father and inherited wealth,” said Oliver, comparing Le Pen to U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.K.’s Brexit.

Oliver had a plan to encourage French voters to vote for a different candidate — appeal to their sense of superiority while speaking to them in their native tongue. While Oliver knows that “a British man speaking on an American television show about the Republic of France is basically French kryptonite,” he transformed his show into a French bistro and spoke in French directly to voters. “You in France love nothing more than acting like you are better than Britain and America. Well, now is your chance to prove that,” said Oliver, encouraging voters to “show the whole world that the French ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity go together, like Larry Skywalker and, of course, that weird bear,” he said, holding up dolls of Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca. “Help us, France. You’re our only hope.”

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