American comedy host John Oliver voiced his opinions on both the Libertarian and the Green party, the other two contenders in the ongoing presidential race, on his latest issue of ‘Last Week Tonight,’ airing Sundays on HBO.
The 39-year-old political commentator focused yesterday’s show on why both Gary Johnson (Libertarian) and Jill Stein (Green) are not suitable to become President of the United States, a vision he also holds for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
He dug into various aspects of both candidates’ macroeconomic policy proposals and revealed an equal distaste for their campaigns, mostly stating the 2016 Presidential Race’s protagonists all suffer from the same deficiencies.
“When your two main options are depressing, any third choice seems good.”
Oliver claimed that more than a third of young voters are considering voting for either Stein or Johnson, in detriment of both Clinton and Trump, according to an unspecified poll. Such actions make these candidates worth examining, says Last Week Tonight’s host.
He starts by addressing Jill Stein’s claim that the President has the authority to cancel student debt by using ‘quantitative easing,’ a monetary policy that only the Federal Reserve can enact. He reiterates that if the Federal Reserve took direct orders from the President, this could be dangerous for the economy.
He moves on to recount the various instances in which Stein has seemingly gone out of her way to please her audience, rather than attaining to facts and following through with her political statements.
Gary Johnson, says Oliver, currently holds around 6.1% of the national vote (Stein holds about 2%). The Libertarian candidate has stated he supports the elimination of some government agencies and has maintained this position, which is key to the libertarian ‘smaller government’ ideology.
However, when forced to explain further how he would go about replacing these institutions Johnson, Oliver shows, has not given any concrete answers.
Both Stein and Johnson are proposing “OVERLY SIMPLE SOLUTIONS THAT COULD HAVE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES,” the showman said.
This statement also applies to Johnson’s policy changes regarding taxes, which he has failed to explain logically in previous interviews. When faced with a question concerning this issue, critical for poor people and the middle class, Johnson has deflected his answers.
The third party candidates
Jill Stein is a 66-year-old physician from Chicago, IL. She graduated from Harvard and had been a member of the Green Party since 1998 and served as its Presidential candidate for the first time in 2012.
Gary Johnson is a 63-year-old businessman from North Dakota, who began his political career in the Republican Party, under which he became the 29th Governor of the State of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. He joined the Libertarian Party in 2011 and also ran for President with it in 2012.
Source: Last Week Tonight