John Oliver Bashes Presidential Primaries and Caucuses on Last Week Tonight

John Oliver on ‘Last Week Tonight’ Photo by HBO via YouTube / Screenshot

John Oliver slammed the confusing presidential primary and caucus rules of both major parties on Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight.

The HBO host, like many voters around the country, is perplexed by the convoluted system of delegates used by both Democrats and Republicans to determine their party’s nominee. Oliver explained that rules can vary greatly from state to state, which has caused a lot of headaches for some this year’s contenders.

As an example, the comedian pointed out Bernie Sanders win over Hillary Clinton in the Wyoming caucus. While the Vermont Senator ended up winning the popular vote, the former Secretary of State took home more delegates due to “an odd quirk in the Democrats’ system.”

Oliver also noted that Donald Trump has called out the process used by Republicans which, in some states, has given more delegates to candidates who didn’t win the most overall votes.

“There is no clearer piece of evidence that our system is broken, no more thoroughly dead canary in the coal mine than when Donald Trump is actually making sense,” Oliver said.

After breaking down all of the confusing rules, including the Democrats use of super delegates, the host explained why politicians aren’t clamoring to change the system anytime soon. He compared the situation to Matt Damon’s The Martian winning a Golden Globe for best comedy.

“Nobody wants to change the weird rules if they win,” Oliver said. “Do you think the producers of The Martian are complaining about the rules by which the Golden Globes actually gave them Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical? No, of course not.”

He added, “They’re just busy writing another movie as sidesplittingly hilarious as Matt Damon potato farming in space for two hours.”

Check out the full segment below.