--- title: John Oliver: Donald Trump Jr. Scandal Is 'Stupid Watergate' description: Last Week Tonight host John Oliver hit up Stephen Colbert's Late Show and put in his two cents on the whole Donald Trump Jr. email fiasco canonical: https://time.com/4856474/john-oliver-donald-trump-jr-emails-russia/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-13T14:13:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:21.520Z og:title: John Oliver: Donald Trump Jr. Scandal Is 'Stupid Watergate' og:description: What a time to be John Oliver and not on television og:url: https://time.com/4856474/john-oliver-donald-trump-jr-emails-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e8df1dc961a9f97/6988d584bc6cfc09ac3e2388/olivercolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1447 og:image:height: 814 og:image:alt: OliverColbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver: Donald Trump Jr. Scandal Is 'Stupid Watergate' twitter:description: What a time to be John Oliver and not on television twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e8df1dc961a9f97/6988d584bc6cfc09ac3e2388/olivercolbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Stupid Watergate.' John Oliver Wonders if Donald Trump Jr. Is 'Too Dumb' to Know What's Happening > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=84bf918a-8e49-4825-8b9c-08624ea2c1c7&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Jul 13, 2017 2:13 PM UTC  by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Jul 13, 2017 2:13 PM UTC What a time to be [John Oliver](http://ew.com/movies/2017/07/10/john-oliver-lion-king-zazu-disney/) and not on television. The host of HBO’s [_Last Week Tonight_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/03/john-oliver-warren-g-harding-trailer/) is on a brief break until July 30, but thanks to his _Daily Show_ chum, Stephen Colbert, he was able to hit up [_The Late Show_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/12/andy-serkis-gollum-trump-tweets/) on Wednesday and put in his two cents on the whole [Donald Trump Jr. email fiasco](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/12/jimmy-kimmel-donald-trump-jr-russia-email/). Oliver is perplexed. “The fact we’re at a point where we’re going, ‘Do you think they understand? Is it possible there’s not a logical sequence of thoughts in their minds that have made them understand the gravity of the situation they’re in?’ The fact that we’re wondering that — and you wonder it not just with this issue, with a lot — are they just too dumb to realize what’s happening?” he questioned of the Trump administration. “And the answer is not definitely no.” Oliver joked in the beginning of the chat that “you’d have to have an offspring who is so stupid” to cause such a scandal the way Trump Jr. did when he released his emails on Twitter and admitted his intent to obtain damning intel on Hillary Clinton from a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the presidential race. “We called this whole looming scandal way back in March. We came up with this framing device for it called ‘[Stupid Watergate’](http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/06/john-oliver-trump-russia-stupid-watergate/) — the idea that it’s something with all the gravitas of Watergate but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything,” he said. “At first, it was supposed to be a self-contained joke but current events are making it more and more relevant, which is not normally how jokes work.” His first reaction to Trump Jr.’s emails “was probably ‘wow,’” but that changed to, ‘Well, this is something as long as we live in a world where something means anything.’” However, Oliver isn’t sure we do anymore. “It seems serious, but do we live in a world devoid of consequences now? I forget where we are in human history,” he said. Colbert seconded that thought. “Have we come to a nation where colluding with a hostile foreign power to manipulate our election is a left-right thing?” he asked. For Oliver, “The very fact that you just said that sentence out loud shows that we are turbo f—ed.” Watch their conversation in the clip above. _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/13/john-oliver-stephen-colbert-donald-trump-jr/) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4856474/john-oliver-donald-trump-jr-emails-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4856474/john-oliver-donald-trump-jr-emails-russia/"},"headline":"'Stupid Watergate.' 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