Tearful John Oliver pleads with hesitant voters to support Kamala Harris

I'm fighting back the tears, John Oliver choked up on Sunday evening as he urged undecided and hesitant voters to go to the polls on Tuesday Kamala Harris as president.

“What will I feel on Wednesday? And is there anything I wish I had said now?” Oliver said at the start of his impassioned 10-minute final monologue Last week tonight.

Oliver said he supports Harris' proposals to expand Medicare to cover long-term care for the elderly, as well as expand reproductive freedoms and increase incomes for poor Americans. He also acknowledged that several episodes of this 11th season of his late-night HBO show had already warned about the threat of a second Trump term and the policies outlined in Project 2025. “All of this is why a lot of our stories this year have ended with me telling you to vote against Donald Trump,” Oliver said. “But to be clear: I’m voting for Kamala Harris. And I think you should too.”

Oliver made his appeal Sunday evening to those voters who are “rightly angry” about the Biden administration’s “untenable” policy toward the war in Gaza. “Look, I understand why this is so difficult, and I know there are some who will not vote for Harris under any circumstances because of this issue,” he said, adding: “I wish Harris had done more, to reach out to you, other than sending Bill Clinton to basically insult you this week. That didn’t seem remotely helpful to me and honestly felt a bit like bullying.”

But he also pointed to Muslim and Arab voices “who have also grappled deeply with this issue and come to the conclusion that they will vote for Harris despite their pain.” Like Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, one of the Palestinians, who had hoped to speak at the DNC this summer but was rebuked. Oliver played a TikTok of Romman explaining her reasons for sticking with Harris and the Democrats. “It’s really worth checking out,” Oliver said.

Oliver said Romman reportedly voted early for Harris in Georgia agreed to pair her Harris vote with a protest vote in a safe Democratic state.

That's better than letting Trump win, Oliver said. “I know it's hard to imagine things getting any worse here, but to be fair, Trump has always been one to roll up his sleeves, throw on a very unflattering vest and plunge us into a new layer of hell,” he said. “The damage of a second Trump term would extend well beyond the next four years and weigh on any potential progressive president in the future.”

Oliver said a Trump victory would also allow him to replace Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito and “solidify a majority that would probably last for the rest of my life.” Which, admittedly, maybe not that long “It will take a long time if the measles McGee here (RFK Jr.) lets everything get out of control.”

“I know it’s not inspiring to hear that. But politics is not always inspiring. It's transactional. It rarely matches our greatest hopes and dreams. I'll be honest: I really didn't want the first vote I cast as an American citizen to be for Joe fucking Biden. But here we are,” Oliver argued, his emotions welling up inside him. “That's how I see it. The fight for justice is not just about what happens on Election Day. It is a battle waged constantly, day after day, in protests on the streets, in meetings with lawmakers, and in the thousand small actions that cumulatively move the government forward, step by step.”

Furthermore, a Harris victory would mean that Oliver would no longer have to worry about Trump, at least politically. “Doesn’t that sound great?” he asked. “And I know that the problems of which he is a symptom would of course remain, but we wouldn't have to worry about them him more. Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where he's no longer an active threat? Just annoying.”

Oliver said voting for Harris would mean the world could laugh at a woman's photo from last week Orange Trump with open mouth and fluorescent vest and allow Americans to move on with their lives without worrying about what he might do next.

“I really want to live in this world and I hope that everyone does everything they can in the next 48 hours to make this world possible.”