British comedian and political commentator John Oliver said he won’t be heading home to the United Kingdom under President Trump’s second term, opting instead to go “down with the Titanic.”
He appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Monday evening, where the pair talked about Oliver’s decision to become a U.S. citizen in 2019 and Trump’s first four weeks back in office.
“You are a recent citizen,” Stephen Colbert said. “How do you feel? Are you still gonna stick it out? You gonna head back to England?”
“Oh, no, I’m sticking it out,” the “Last Week Tonight” host replied. “I’m going down with Titanic.”
“I know there might be life rafts available, but I’m tuning up,” he added, playing a fake violin like the musicians aboard the Titanic.
Colbert asked Oliver about the president’s return to the Oval Office and whether anything stood out to him.
“I don’t know how surprised you get to be about any of this,” Oliver said. “I think all of this was pretty much foreseeable.”
Colbert agreed, noting that it’s exactly what he thought but worse than he could have imagined. Then, the host asked Oliver about what things got him through Trump’s first administration, particularly as both hosts frequently discuss politics and the state of the country with a dark, humorous tone.
“In creating our show last week, I think what we wanted to do was try and contextualize the feelings that people were having right now,” Oliver said.
He then noted that the 2017 protests that sprung up after Trump signed a Muslim travel ban were inspiring and highlighted activism as a way to protest.
“You can send a message. You don’t have wait just to vote,” the British comedian said. “It’s valuable sending messages, even if that message is f— this s—.”
“It’s sometimes the strongest message to send,” he added.
As Trump celebrated his first President’s Day back in office, protests cropped up across the country, demonstrating opposition to his sweeping executive orders and the influence of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, on the federal government.
