--- title: John Oliver Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds description: “The Kurds fought with the U.S. military in at least two more wars than Donald Trump ever did,” Oliver said on 'Last Week Tonight.' canonical: https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-28T07:49:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:04.141Z og:title: John Oliver Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds og:description: ”It’s genuinely hard to get it this wrong,” Oliver said on 'Last Week Tonight' og:url: https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-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 Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds twitter:description: ”It’s genuinely hard to get it this wrong,” Oliver said on 'Last Week Tonight' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # John Oliver Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds on _Last Week Tonight_ ## Video: A Brief History of the U.S. Backing Kurdish Fighters [Watch (HLS stream): A Brief History of the U.S. Backing Kurdish Fighters](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4T9tHCcc.m3u8) (2:45)  _Published 2019-10-11. A Brief History of the U.S. Backing Kurdish Fighters_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 28, 2019 7:49 AM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 28, 2019 7:49 AM UTC On _Last Week Tonight_, John Oliver once again turned his attention to Donald Trump—specifically Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of Syria, abandoning the U.S.-allied [Kurdish](https://time.com/5694037/turkey-assault-syria-kurds-us-withdrawal/) forces that had been helping Washington contain ISIS. It was a move that alarmed political leaders around the world and in the U.S., including Trump’s own supporters. The situation in Syria is incredibly complex, according to Oliver, unless you’re Trump. “I had forgotten that Trump spent the ’90s as senior fellow of Middle Eastern Studies at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and not as I clearly wrongly remembered, losing all his dad’s money and trying unsuccessfully to bang Madonna,” Oliver said. Trump’s decision to forsake the Kurds was a surprise, Oliver explained, because they had been allies of the U.S. for years, including in the Gulf and Iraq Wars. “The Kurds fought with the U.S. military in at least two more wars than Donald Trump ever did,” Oliver said. In [Syria](https://time.com/5711498/russia-criticize-us-syria-oil/), the [Kurds](https://time.com/5700563/syrian-national-army-turkey-offensive-kurds/) were such close allies to the U.S. that, according to Oliver, at one point the Kurds could call in American airstrikes in the region. Trump also insisted the U.S. leave the region very quickly. The withdrawal was so rushed that, according to video captured by a reporter who visited the bases after the troops left, fridges weren’t even emptied of drinks. “America left the region the same way you leave a party right after you clog the toilet, quickly, leaving everything behind, and causing someone else to deal with all the s–t,” Oliver joked. In the power vacuum created by Washington’s departure, Russia got a foothold in the region, over 100 ISIS prisoners managed to escape, and [Turkish-backed militias](https://time.com/5700563/syrian-national-army-turkey-offensive-kurds/) launched attacks on the Kurds. While Oliver admits that it’s hard to get anything right in the Middle East, “it’s genuinely hard to get it this wrong.” See the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/"},"headline":"John Oliver Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds on Last Week Tonight","datePublished":"2019-10-28T07:49:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:04.141Z","description":"“The Kurds fought with the U.S. military in at least two more wars than Donald Trump ever did,” Oliver said.","url":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Syria","Turkey","Kurds","Late Night Television","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/","name":"John Oliver Accuses Donald Trump of Betraying the Kurds on Last Week Tonight"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Brief History of the U.S. Backing Kurdish Fighters","description":"A Brief History of the U.S. Backing Kurdish Fighters","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4T9tHCcc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-10-11T20:35:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4T9tHCcc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/","duration":"PT2M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5710634/john-oliver-donald-trump-kurds-last-week-tonight/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```