The Drumpf Effect
John Oliver has a sublime history of de-constructing difficult topics in a way that makes them palatable to the general public, and inciting real change in a way that Victor Luckerson, of Time Magazine labelled “The John Oliver Effect” back in January of last year. So it was somewhat surprising that John Oliver held back on any lengthy discussion on Republican Nominee front-runner Donald Trump, until just a few weeks ago.
In a segment lasting just under 22 minutes, John Oliver systematically tore apart Trump’s numerous claims in regards to his business ventures, his capitalistic supremacy, and his predilection to threatening opponents with legal action all of which culminated in a campaign to Make Donald Drumpf again.
The video garnered over 60 million views on Facebook, and was shared a staggering 1.1 million times. A Chrome app extension to replace the name ‘Trump’ with the word ‘Drumpf’ has been downloaded over 466,000 times, and HBO has just sold out of all hats baring the ‘Make Donald Drumpf Again’ slogan. Clearly, it’s been a popular segment.
In mainstream media, Rolling Stones and the Huffington Post gleefully celebrate the segment, as did the Business Insider, with numerous other news sites posting articles in similar veins.
The segment appeared to make an impact on Mitt Romney, who cited Donald’s Trumps’ many business failings during an impassioned speech against the Republican frontrunner, while Marco Rubio decided to bring up Trump’s ‘small hands’ during a recent Republican debate. Donald Trump responded by defending the size of his hands, and the appendage insinuated to be correspondingly limited.
There have undoubtedly been dissenters to the ‘Make Donald Drumpf Again’ campaign, but interestingly, Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be one of them. Since John Oliver’s segment aired on the 29th of February, the only reference Trump has appeared to make in regards to the criticism has been an offering of his branded steaks, water and wine, to share amongst fans at a press conference following his Michigan and Mississippi victories. Oliver had mentioned all these products as examples of Trump’s failed ventures during the Trump segment, yet no other comment has been made by Trump.
Surprising for a man whose Twitter feed is littered with personal attacks.
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