John Oliver has covered the president's myriad scandals for months, but even he was stunned Donald Jr. would tweet out evidence the Trump campaign attempted to collude with the Russian government last summer.
"We called this whole looming scandal—way back in March—we came up with this framing device for it: 'Stupid Watergate,'" Oliver told "Late Night" host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday. "The idea that it's something with all of the gravitas of Watergate, but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything."
"And unfortunately," he added. "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."
"When Trump, Jr. tweeted his emails yesterday—without a gun to his head—the first one said, 'This is part of Russia, and it's government support for Donald Trump,' what was your immediate reaction?" Colbert asked his guest.
"Probably 'wow,'" Oliver admitted. "Followed by the idea [that] this is something, as long as we live in a world where something means anything. And I'm not sure we do any more."
Oliver noted that on its surface, the situation "seems serious," but so have countless other Trump revelations. Both hosts agreed a heavily partisan divide has become the new normal. But what Oliver found most amazing was Trump Jr.'s complete confidence no harm would come to him or his father.
"Saying this is nothing," Oliver mused, "I can't even fathom how his lawyer must've felt."
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