John Oliver began Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” by blasting lies by Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, who falsely accused Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, of eating people’s pets.
“Do you remember a time when that would be a disqualification?” the moderator asked. “I don’t anymore. Republicans have nominated Trump three times. Democrats have lost to him half the time. And the election remains inexplicably close. Unfortunately, some Americans watched (the debate) and thought, ‘I don’t like how Kamala laughed when he called immigrants dog eaters. That’s not presidential.'”
Oliver said the myth about Springfield’s Haitian immigrants – that the town welcomed them to fill jobs that locals wouldn’t take – was “emblematic” of the Trump-Vance campaign, noting that “city officials say there is no evidence of what Mr Trump so confidently told its 67 million residents.”
And “Vance, far from simply repeating the allegations he heard, actually helped create much of the confusion he is now trying to exploit,” Oliver said.
“This pet-eating panic is unfounded,” he continued. There are no actual examples, no substantive reports. And what’s worse, Vance knew about it. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Vance called Springfield’s mayor, who told him the rumors about pets being stolen in town were untrue.
“So Vance has known it was a lie all along,” Oliver said, “but instead of admitting that, he and his team are busy digging up new, bogus evidence that either bears no resemblance to what he claims or falls apart under the guise of a cursory examination.”
While Vance isn’t great at many things, Oliver added, “he has proven to be pretty good at repeating gutless, idiotic and racist lies.”
In his main segment, Oliver addressed the issue of Social Security disability benefits, which 15 million Americans rely on to meet basic needs like food, shelter, and health care. The benefits are administered through two programs: need-based Supplemental Security Income (SSI), for elderly and disabled people, and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), for people who contribute to Social Security through payroll taxes but are unable to work adequately because of a disability. If you qualify for either, you also qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.
“These programs are a critical safety net for many people with disabilities in this country,” Oliver said. “Unfortunately, as anyone who has tried to apply can tell you, the application process is an absolute nightmare.
“In fact, most disabled people who apply for disability benefits are turned down,” he explained. “It’s one of those facts that doesn’t make sense but is actually true, like the fact that most truffle oil isn’t made with truffles, or that the oldest person ever technically doesn’t die, or that Tim Waltz is younger than Weird Al.”
Between 2014 and 2019, about 48,000 people filed for bankruptcy while waiting for their disability benefits to be finalized, according to a Government Accountability Office report. “These benefits are hard to get and easy to lose,” and “can be life-changing,” Oliver said. That’s because benefits are prescribed by narrow criteria based on a list of specific medical conditions, not a doctor’s diagnosis. And, in Oliver’s words, those criteria can be “significantly out of sync with modern medical practice.”
He added: “Your records could be viewed by someone who has never met you and could be briefly examined by someone with no expertise in your medical condition, who could use outdated data to make decisions about whether you should receive important benefits.”
To answer the question of whether a disability prevents someone from working, the agency looks at a list of job titles that was last updated in 1977. People have been denied benefits because the list included occupations that they could theoretically have, such as nut grader, egg processor, dowel inspector and magnetic tape winder. “If you lived in 1977, or in Richard Scarry’s busy world, these would have been easy to find, but today it’s a ridiculous list,” Oliver says.
Part of the problem is that the Social Security Administration has been underfunded for more than a decade since the Republican-led Congress slashed its budget in 2011. “Frankly, it’s no wonder we had a backlog of a million applications for disability benefits last year,” Oliver said.
Even after receiving benefits, people must adhere to strict income and asset limits to keep them. The limits can be as low as $2,000, making it “virtually impossible to save money.” Oliver gave several examples of people who were denied disability benefits during the pandemic because they exceeded asset limits with government-issued stimulus checks that were supposed to be forgiven.
“I don’t understand why anyone would think that our government is run by a shadow cabal of elites when it often seems to be run by three raccoons in men’s warehouse suits,” Oliver said. “They’re the only ones who would send someone money during a pandemic, forget they sent it, and then demand more than double the amount back.”
This is not just about money, he added: “It’s not just about meeting the basic needs of people with disabilities. It’s about creating a society in which people with disabilities are equal and active members.”
“The system needs to be improved, not just for people with disabilities, but for everyone,” he concluded.
