Trump Doesn’t Want Everyone to Fill Out the Census—So John Oliver Says You Definitely Should

  • 📰 VanityFair
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 64 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 29%
  • Publisher: 55%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

Monday Motivation: Fill out the census because (as John Oliver insists) it could “really irritate” Donald Trump

Thehost wrapped up his sixth season Sunday night—and his final long take of the season addressed an issue that will already be under way by the time his late-night series returns to HBO next year. As Oliver noted, every decade the government releases televised ads urging citizens to participate in the national head count—but next year, thanks to budget shortfalls and meddling by Republicans, the effort will likely be more challenging than usual, Oliver said.

Oliver noted that one problem for the census is that a lot of people don’t even know what questions they’ll be asked—“and that very much includes the current president himself.” Cue a clip in which the president told reporters that census workers “go through houses. They go up, they ring doorbells. They talk to people; how many toilets do they have, how many desks do they have, how many beds? What’s their roof made of?” The comment left Oliver baffled.

Alas, census paranoia is all too common; as Oliver pointed out, the last census prompted an entire YouTube subgenre in which libertarians evaded census workers’ questions—and in some cases, like one clip Oliver rolled, pestered them with stories of census workers who take down personal information and then return to people’s houses to “rape and kill” them. “Two key things there,” Oliver said.

That paranoia can be detrimental to any community, Oliver noted, as low turnout can affect the number of seats any given state receives in the House. One town in Minnesota even saw a masked superhero arise, with the sole mission of encouraging people to participate. “It’s like if Batman didn’t fight crime—he just wandered around and told people interesting facts about bats,” Oliver quipped.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 391. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Trump admin no longer considers Israeli settlements in West Bank to be illegalBREAKING: US on Monday reversed its decadeslong position that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, in the latest step by the Trump admin. to solidify Israeli control over areas claimed by Palestinians for a future independent state.
Source: MSNBC - 🏆 469. / 51 Read more »

Senior Trump admin official Mina Chang resigns after embellishing resuméSenior Trump admin. official Mina Chang resigns 6 days after an NBCNews report about her resume inflation, and hours after NBC News asked her about newly discovered false claims.
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »

Senior Trump admin official Mina Chang resigns after NBC News reportBREAKING: Senior Trump admin. official Mina Chang resigns 6 days after an NBCNews report about her resume inflation, and hours after NBC News asked her about newly discovered false claims. Chang wrote in her resignation letter that she had been 'unfairly maligned, unprotected by my superiors, and exposed to a media with an insatiable desire for gossip and scandal, genuine or otherwise.' Chang wrote in her resignation letter that she had been 'unfairly maligned, unprotected by my superiors, and exposed to a media with an insatiable desire for gossip and scandal, genuine or otherwise.' What? A Trump appointee that lies. OMG. Oh yeah, right - what was I thinking. Totally normal
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »

Trump admin preps to send migrants back to countries they passed throughThe Trump admin. is preparing to publish a rule that would send migrants who pass through Guatemala, El Salvador, or Honduras before seeking asylum in the US back to those Central American countries to claim asylum there instead.
Source: NBCNews - 🏆 10. / 86 Read more »

Trump pardons Army officers, restores Navy SEAL's rank in war crimes casesPresident Donald Trump pardoned two Army officers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and restored the rank of a Navy SEAL platoon commander who was demoted for actions in Iraq
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

New York Times editor says Trump has put his reporters’ lives at riskNew York Times editor says Trump has put his reporters’ lives at risk. Dean Baquet decries abuse of journalists and defends not calling president racist
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »