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‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Addresses Jared Kushner’s Israel Visit, Glen Casada Texting Scandal

On Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver had a full plate of things to discuss including the eight-way Scripps spelling bee tie, Narendra Modi getting sworn in for his second term as India’s Prime Minister and Robert Mueller screaming “the word impeachment with his eyes. He also dove into the world of the medical device industry. But he did spend some time unpacking the Jared Kushner’s visit to Israel and his bizarre gift to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the texting scandal between Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former aide Cade Cothren. Both stories are so funny that you will cry or so sad that they will make you laugh.

Kushner, who Oliver referred to as a “man who constantly looks like was just reset to factory settings”, is hard at work on his Middle East plan and recently a visit to Israel where he gave Netanyahu a map of Israel signed by Donald Trump. The map includes Golan Heights, which Oliver points out is occupied Syrian territory, according to the international community. He said that the map is a huge symbolic gesture and a provocative move — and the fact that Trump wrote “nice” next to Golan Heights makes it even provocative.

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“All else aside, a map is a sh*tty gift,” said Oliver. “And getting it from Jared Kushner is the sh*ttiest way to receive it.”

He continued, “It would be like getting a bouquet of dead fish for your birthday delivered by Matt Lauer.”

He went on to talk about Casada and Cothren who recently made headlines for text exchanges that included racist slurs, drug use and an overshare of sexual trysts. Cothern sent numerous texts with the N-word as well as a play-by-play of his drug use. He also sent texts about a failed sexual encounter he had at a restaurant where campaign funds were used.

“Cothren’s behavior clearly reflects badly on his boss who incidentally lobbied to have welfare benefits stripped who test positive for drugs,” said Oliver.

Oliver joked, “The only thing on Earth more shatteringly distasteful than attempting to impress a state representative by bragging about being a sexual disappointment in a bathroom at a Tennessee chicken restaurant is attempting to impress a state representative by lying in a toilet text about all the lightning-fast orgasms you’re doing at said Tennessee chicken restaurant.

Since then, Cothren has released what Oliver called an “excusplanation”.

“Clearly this story is incredible,” Oliver said before pointing out that Casada has announced that he will meet with Republican leadership to determine a date for him to resign.

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