HBO’s Oliver laments ‘dark week’ after Barrett nomination: ‘Hopeless’

HBO’s John Oliver on Sunday called the days leading up to President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as “a very dark week,” adding that “things seem hopeless right now.”

The host of “Last Week Tonight” said the prospect of the Senate confirming Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee since 2017 could tilt the court to the right “for the foreseeable future.”

“Trump is about to replace a liberal icon with an extremely conservative justice who’s been called the female Antonin Scalia, and she can serve for a long time,” Oliver said. “Amy Coney Barrett is only 48, and I know that I make 43 look like 76, but trust me, that is young for a Supreme Court justice.”

Oliver slammed Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) for not opposing Barrett’s nomination. Romney, the only GOP senator to vote with Democrats to convict Trump on an article of impeachment earlier this year, said last week that “it is appropriate for a nation which is, if you will, center-right to have a court which reflects center-right points of view.”

“Our country isn’t so much center-right as Mitt Romney is center-wrong,” Oliver said. “Look, this has been a very dark week for lots of people. The Supreme Court is about to lurch to the right for the foreseeable future, and if things seem hopeless right now it’s because, to be completely honest, they basically are.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill are poised to confirm Barrett before Election Day.