A majority of Republican nominees deny or question the 2020 election results. Heading into the midterm elections which will be held Tuesday across the United States, this has many concerned that some candidates may not concede even if they lose their elections.
John Oliver focused on election subversion during his Sunday evening show, opening with a clip of Georgia's Mike Collins who shot a trash can with a sign on it saying "voting machine" watch below:
'That man is ridiculous': John Oliver goes on the offensive against GOP election liars | RawStory.TV'That man is ridiculous': John Oliver goes on the offensive against GOP election liars | RawStory.TV
Election subversion is what Oliver wanted to focus on, however. He explained that's when people try to eliminate votes after they've happened to try and change the election.
Playing a clip of Donald Trump demanding 11,780 votes in a call to Georgia officials.
While that incident is easy for folks to remember, in Michigan there was Wayne County, where Trump supporters tried to simply eliminate Detroit voters.
"I propose this simple solution. I would be open to certifying communities other than the city of Detroit," Monica Palmer, Republican County Board of Canvassers said.
Norman Shinkle was another Republican who refused to certify Joe Biden's win in Michigan. The panel could have been deadlocked, except for a "boring guy in glasses" named Aaron Van Langevelde, who voted to certify the vote while quoting John Adams.
"But in state after state, we were very lucky that a small group of people in key positions stood firm," said Oliver.
He went on to show the video of Doug Ducey refusing a call from President Donald Trump and certifying the election in Arizona. That might not happen with a governor like Kari Lake. In fact, she's made it clear she'll refuse to certify it.
He explained that the "guardrails that protect our democracy were heavily tested" in 2020 and since then there has been an attempt to bring down these protections. So, there's a very real chance that the 2022 election will end in a nation filled with insanity.
After a debunking of "2,000 Mules" by "bullsh*t artist Dinesh D'souza" who used maps of Moscow to prove that the mules were going by drop boxes. In one clip, the filmmakers have a freakout over a person walking a dog putting their ballot in a drop box outside of the voting location. The person takes their phone out of a bag, then takes the ballot out of the bag, and takes a photo of the ballot as they're putting in the ballot box.
This is something many people, on both sides of the aisle, do to show off that they've voted as a way to indicate they're excited about voting. In the film, the "investigators" censor the person's face as well as the dog, for their own personal privacy.
Oliver closed with the help of actor Nick Offerman, who did his own video like Mike Collins of Georgia, in a red short-sleeved shirt and a massive gun.
He began by saying that he can pull off a red Polo shirt without making it look like his mommy picked it out for him.
"And this is a trash can," he explained. "I have labeled it a trash can because it is a trash can. I actually labeled it twice so there wouldn't be any mix-ups. But obviously, that's unnecessary because we're all adults and we do know the difference between a trash can and a godd*man voting machine. Far-right Republican extremists have been running their dry mouths claiming that any election in which they receive less votes than the opposition must be rigged. Well I've got some news for you, actual patriots are sick and tired of shameless opportunistic charlatans who invent dangerous conspiracies, peddle mendacious propaganda, and worse, censor good, good dogs. Because if you're afraid to show a dog's face."
Offerman went on to show his dog, sitting off to the side.
"You can't stop us from showing dogs just like you can't keep us from voting. We're going to do it not because it's fun, because it's not really fun," Offerman continued. "But because it's the right thing to do America. And guess what, we're going to look one-f*ck-of-a-lot better than you while we do it. One shot. No cuts."
Offerman then blows up the trash can.
"Vote," he closed.
