--- title: John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems description: On 'Last Week Tonight', John Oliver turned his gimlet eye on the United States' presidential primaries and caucuses. canonical: https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-23T08:26:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:40:09.842Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems og:description: He called Trump, America's "walking talking brush fire" og:url: https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems twitter:description: He called Trump, America's "walking talking brush fire" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems on _Last Week Tonight_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2016 8:26 AM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2016 8:26 AM UTC On _Last Week Tonight,_ John Oliver turned his gimlet eye on the United States’ presidential primaries and caucuses, which he describes as “the electoral foreplay we’ve been engaging in since February.” As even the most casual political watcher knows, both political parties nearly have their nominees, with the Republicans leaning towards the candidate that Oliver describes as, “Donald Trump, America’s walking talking brush fire” and the Democrats opting for “Hillary Clinton the woman who exhibits too much or too little of every human quality depending on who you ask.” However, as the primary process has rolled on, many Americans have questions about how votes in primaries and caucuses are translated into the delegates and [superdelegates](http://time.com/4341060/superdelegates-democratic-convention-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/?iid=sr-link1) who will go to the conventions and choose the party’s candidates. Oliver, a.k.a. “the British Milhouse,” does his civic duty by trying to explain the complex and arcane process so Americans can understand how a president is made. Turns out that much like sausage, you may not want to know how it’s made and it might be time to overhaul the system. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/"},"headline":"John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems on Last Week Tonight","datePublished":"2016-05-23T08:26:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:40:09.842Z","description":"Oliver calls for change to the primary system","url":"https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/","keywords":["democrats","republicans","Television","politics","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4344412/john-oliver-challenges-the-caucus-and-primary-systems-on-last-week-tonight/","name":"John Oliver Challenges The Caucus and Primary Systems on Last Week Tonight"}}]}] ```