S6 E18: Boris Johnson & Puerto Rico: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Puerto Rico

• The week saw significant events, including North Korea resuming missile launches, Robert Müller irritating Congress and the president, and the president threatening France with tariffs on their wines in a manner described as stupid (48s).
• The president's statement about preferring American wines over French wines, despite not drinking wine, was seen as judging things purely on their looks, which is considered "on brand" for Trump (54s).
• Puerto Rico was in the news due to the embattled governor, Ricardo Roso, finally agreeing to step down after protests, with people celebrating in the streets (1m40s).
• The resignation was seen as a historic moment, given Puerto Rico's history of systemic corruption, a massive debt crisis, crippling austerity measures, and an inadequate response to Hurricane Maria (2m16s).
• The final straw that led to Roso's resignation was the leak of nearly 900 pages of a private group chat, which included personal attacks on rival politicians, sexist comments, and anti-gay slurs (2m38s).
• The leaked messages featured the governor making derogatory comments about a female adversary and joking about the dead bodies accumulating during and after Hurricane Maria (3m27s).
• The protests against Roso were enormous, with hundreds of thousands of people participating, and one protester's statement about the governor's actions during the hurricane was particularly notable (4m30s).
• People in Puerto Rico protested against Governor Rosello, with demonstrations taking place on the streets, on bicycles, underwater, and even on horseback, showing widespread discontent with his leadership (4m34s).
• Governor Rosello initially refused to step down despite the protests, and in an interview with Fox News' Shep Smith, he struggled to name a single person in Puerto Rico who supported him, eventually mentioning the mayor of San Sebastian, Javier Gimenez (5m7s).
• However, it was later revealed that Javier Gimenez does not actually support Governor Rosello, contradicting the governor's claim (6m11s).
• Governor Rosello's mistake in naming a specific supporter was seen as a significant error, as it allowed the claim to be easily verified and disproven (6m25s).
• After over a week of protests, Governor Rosello finally announced that he would leave office, but the future of Puerto Rico's leadership remains unclear due to the resignation of the secretary of state and the secretary of justice's decision not to take the job (6m46s).
• Despite the uncertainty, the people of Puerto Rico are optimistic, and the protests have united the island against Governor Rosello's leadership, with some seeing his departure as a positive outcome (7m19s).
• The situation in Puerto Rico has been compared to a unifying force, with the island's residents coming together to demand change and remove Governor Rosello from office (7m42s).

Boris Johnson

• The UK has a new prime minister, Boris Johnson, who took over from Teresa May in a transition of power sealed with a handshake with the queen (9m47s).
• Boris Johnson is known for his appearance, which is often described as consistently immaculately wrong, with photos of him often looking ridiculous (10m39s).
• As mayor of London, Boris Johnson famously got stuck on a zipline while promoting the 2012 Olympics (10m22s).
• Boris Johnson has a unique way of relaxing, claiming to make models of buses by painting old wooden crates, which is a claim that is hard to believe (11m27s).
• Boris Johnson was a crucial leader in the Brexit campaign, riding around in a gigantic red bus with a complete lie splashed across the side of it (12m23s).
• As prime minister, Boris Johnson now faces the challenge of finalizing a Brexit withdrawal deal by October 31st, which is less than 100 days from now (12m38s).
• Britain's new leader, Boris Johnson, is often compared to Donald Trump due to his clownish figure and passing relationship with the truth, but he is more complex than Trump in several ways (12m49s).
• Unlike Trump, Johnson is more than happy to show off his intelligence and wit, often charmingly dropping sporting trivia, such as the origin of ping pong, which he claims was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century (13m57s).
• Johnson's ability to laugh at himself and appear ridiculous has helped him survive and even benefit from situations that would have damaged other politicians' careers, such as an absurd zipline photo from the Olympics (14m49s).
• Johnson's appeal can be attributed to his lovable and humorous nature, which has allowed him to weather adversity with good cheer, but there may be more calculation behind this image than initially apparent (15m26s).
• Johnson learned at an early age the benefit of making himself the butt of the joke, as seen in a story where he hid behind a pillar to read his lines in a French play, which ended up being funnier than if he had learned them perfectly (15m42s).
• Johnson has admitted that he learned from acting in plays at Eton that he could get more laughs by appearing as if he didn't know his lines, rather than actually remembering them (16m28s).
• Boris Johnson's bumbling persona is a carefully calibrated act, allowing him to appear charmingly unprepared while hiding his actual lack of knowledge (17m2s).
• Johnson's appearance, including his hair and clothing, is also part of this act, with multiple people suggesting that he intentionally messes up his hair before TV appearances (17m48s).
• Johnson's ability to present himself as a relatable, cartoonish Englishman has helped him to inoculate himself against criticism of his privileged background, including his time at the elite Bullington Club at Oxford University (18m41s).
• Some of Johnson's humorous moments, such as a clip of him talking about painting buses, may have been attempts to manipulate public perception and change Google search results (19m4s).
• Once you realize that Johnson's gaffes may be calculated manipulations, it can be difficult to see him in the same way again, and it raises questions about his true intentions (19m28s).
• Beneath his charming surface, Johnson has a history of dishonesty, including being fired from his first job at the Times of London for making up a quote (19m57s).
• Johnson went on to build a following at the Daily Telegraph by spreading flagrant falsehoods about the European Union, which helped lay the groundwork for Brexit (20m27s).
• Johnson's history of dishonesty and manipulation raises concerns about his responsibility and trustworthiness as a public figure (20m19s).
• Boris Johnson used a "save get" key command to paint a caricature of the EU, often using the phrase "Britain stood alone last night" followed by a claim that Europe was planning to abolish something, such as prawn cocktail crisps (20m51s).
• Prawn cocktail crisps are a real flavor in the UK, and Boris Johnson wrote columns claiming the EU was attempting to ban them, which was a complete lie (21m5s).
• Despite being debunked 25 years earlier, Boris Johnson cited the "Great War against the British prawn cocktail crisp" as part of his case for Brexit in 2016 (21m44s).
• Boris Johnson has also made references to immigrants as people who want to "leech off the state" and has used derogatory language to describe various groups, including gay men and Muslim women (22m27s).
• When confronted about his comments, Boris Johnson used charm and offered tea to reporters, successfully deflecting their questions and turning the situation into a lighthearted moment (23m24s).
• This tactic, referred to as "full Brit face," allowed Boris Johnson to diffuse the situation and avoid apologizing for his comments, with the journalists present eventually laughing along with him (24m18s).
• Boris Johnson has less than 100 days to negotiate a Brexit deal, and his charm may not be enough to secure a favorable agreement, particularly since it did not serve him well during his time as Foreign Secretary in 2017 (24m39s).
• In 2017, Johnson visited Myanmar, where he recited Rudyard Kipling's colonialist poem "Mandaly" to himself, which was seen as a reminder of British rule and potentially unwise (24m51s).
• Johnson's time in the Foreign Office was marked by several gaffes, with one journalist comparing working with him to walking behind a horse and shoveling its manure (26m9s).
• If Johnson fails to secure a Brexit deal, the consequences could be severe, with most economists predicting a deep recession, and the EU may be immune to his charms due to his past actions and comments (26m42s).
• Johnson has made extravagant and unkeepable promises, including devising a way to sever Northern Ireland from the EU without creating a hard border with Ireland, but his suggestions have been rejected by EU Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker (27m11s).
• Johnson's bumbling charm may work in low-stakes situations, but it is not suitable for the high-stakes Brexit negotiations, where focus, discipline, and detail are required, which are not his strong suits (27m41s).
• Johnson's past comments and actions, including referring to the French as "turds" and comparing the EU to Hitler, have likely damaged his relationships with EU leaders and reduced the chances of a successful negotiation (26m57s).
• The EU's position, as stated by Jean-Claude Juncker, is that the withdrawal agreement is the best and only agreement possible, which means Johnson's suggestions have been rejected (27m28s).
• Boris Johnson's plan to mitigate the effects of a no-deal Brexit involves suggesting that the UK could trade freely with the EU under Article 24, paragraph 5B of an existing trade agreement, but the next paragraph, 5C, makes it clear that this is not possible (29m7s).
• A journalist challenged Johnson on this point, asking how he would handle paragraph 5C, and Johnson responded by saying he would confide entirely in paragraph 5B, showing a lack of attention to detail (29m34s).
• This lack of attention to detail is alarming, especially for a process that could impact millions of people, and it is unlikely that Johnson's skills will be enough to overcome his deficits as Prime Minister (30m13s).
• Johnson has backed himself into a corner, as Parliament has rejected the EU's deal and the EU says there is no better deal to be had, leaving him with no good way out of the situation (30m31s).
• Johnson's situation is compared to being stranded over a volcano, with no clear way to escape, and it is unlikely that he will be able to talk his way out of the situation (30m48s).

Other Topics

• The conversation then shifts to a discussion of CNBC's Joe Kernen and his co-workers, including Ramy Malik's fake teeth, which were not actually awarded for best actor (31m12s).
• The conversation also touches on the topic of sweat glands in the ear canal, with Andrew mentioning that there are active sweat glands in this area (31m42s).
• The show ends with a mention of Mike Myers and John Oliver, and a transition to the "squa planner" segment (32m9s).