John Oliver: 'It doesn't get easier than disavowing Nazis' but 'f*cking idiot' Trump screwed it up

On Sunday's edition of "Last Week Tonight," HBO's John Oliver blasted the white supremacists who converged on Charlottesville, VA over the weekend, killed 32-year-old activist Heather Heyer and injured at least 19 others.

At times like this, Oliver said, the U.S. calls for "true leadership from whoever is in the Oval Office. Unfortunately, the current occupant is [President Donald Trump] and even after a few hours to think about it," the best he could do was a tepid response that blamed "many sides" for the violence and tiptoed around the feelings of the hateful right-wingers who invaded the normally quiet college town.

"This was a white nationalist rally, you have to call that out by name," Oliver said. "There honestly aren't many instances in modern American politics where you can honestly think: That guy really should have mentioned the Nazis."

He said the situation amounts to a kind of reverse Godwin's Law: "If you fail to mention Naziism, you lose the argument."

"What kind of f*cking idiot wouldn't immediately distance himself from them?" Oliver said. "It simply doesn't get easier than disavowing Nazis. It's as much of a presidential gimme as pardoning a f*cking turkey. It is almost impossible to screw it up, but that's exactly what happened."

Watch the video, embedded below: