John Oliver Puts His Finger on the Reason Income Inequality Is So Prevalent in the U.S.

“Just because politicians can’t talk about it,” the “Last Week Tonight” host starts on one of his characteristic rants, “doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.” John Oliver explains how whenever the term “income inequality” comes up, politicians (namely Barack Obama) are accused of class warfare, which is extremely detrimental to addressing what the president himself referred to as “the defining challenge of our time.”

But why is it so difficult for us to understand that policies need to be enacted to protect the nation against the widening wealth gap rather than fomenting it with further tax cuts for the 1 percent? According to the comedian, it’s both the best and worst quality Americans have: optimism.

Watch as he explains in as many ways as he can imagine (including a make-believe lottery game used to illustrate the issue) why the “have nots” are not, and I repeat not, “soon-to-haves” as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would have us think.

And for those of you who are dying to find out what Warren G. Harding called his penis (mentioned in the above clip: “It’s not what you think”), here’s Oliver’s hilarious segment on the 29th president’s love letters to his mistress.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata