John Oliver hits Trump's 'unhinged' CNN tweet

John Oliver opened Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight with a look at how President Donald Trump's social media usage, including what Oliver described as Trump's "unhinged" CNN tweet on Sunday, has taken the focus away from the recent developments on the president's controversial travel ban.

"Unfortunately, we have to start with the fact that on Thursday, the president sent a series of disgusting tweets about Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski — tweets that were absolutely indefensible," Oliver said, referencing Trump's tweets last week that attacked Brzezinski as "low I.Q." and claimed she was "bleeding" from a "face-lift" on New Year's Eve last year. "And yet, White House [Deputy] Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the least amusing cast member in a direct-to-DVD faith-based romantic comedy, gave it her very best shot."

"I think the president has been attacked mercilessly on personal accounts by members of that program. When he gets attacked, he's going to hit back," Sanders said last week.

"You know what, she's kind of right about that. Trump is basically a walrus wearing a T-shirt that says, 'I Have Diarrhea.' He's pretty open about how grossly sh–ty he can be, so we can't be shocked when he is," Oliver said in response to the Sanders footage.

From there, Oliver explained how the partially reinstated travel ban considers bona fide relationships among family members — which in reference to the ban and as defined by the Trump administration leaves grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws barred from entry. Oliver called the terms "cruel" and "unnecessary" and noted that the expectation should be Trump and his surrogates defending the terms of the ban to the American public. But that didn't happen, Oliver said, thanks to "yet another unhinged tweet" from Trump: the meme video that showed the president bodyslamming CNN. The Last Week Tonight host then played footage of U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossert on ABC's This Week watching Trump's tweet for the first time live on the air. (Bossert looked stunned but said no one "would perceive" the video as a "threat.")

"You know, at this point I have no choice but to admit that Trump was right: There is at least one grandparent who poses a grave and immediate threat to America," Oliver said after playing the footage of Bossert. "Unfortunately, it's the grandparent currently in f–ing charge of it."