John Oliver asks America to make Donald Drumpf again
CBC News | Posted: March 1, 2016 5:56 PM | Last Updated: March 1, 2016
Drumpf is an older version of the presidential hopeful's last name
Donald Trump may currently have a last name useful for victory-based wordplay, but if it's up to comedian John Oliver, Trump will become Drumpf.
On Oliver's HBO comedy news show, Last Week Tonight, he argued that Trump as a name is tied to success. He encouraged watchers to instead refer to Trump by an older version of his last name: Drumpf.
Frederick Drumpf, Trump's grandfather, changed his name upon immigrating to the United States from Germany according to the International Business Times.
"I get that the character of Donald Trump is entertaining, and that he says things that people want to hear," Oliver said. "And I know that his very name is powerful."
The word trump, originating from the word triumph, has significant associations to Trump's brand, including Trump Towers and numerous other projects the Republican U.S. presidential hopeful has pursued over the years.
In the Feb. 28 episode, Oliver suggested many ways in which Trump poorly represented his success.
Oliver claimed Trump has rarely been able to follow through on his own legal challenges. He also claimed Trump's campaign money largely comes from a loan from Trump himself, which he pays back with campaign donations.
Meanwhile, Oliver said, much of Trump's initial wealth comes from his inheritance. While he's made money since then, a National Journal article noted that he could have made more with zero effort.
Had Trump invested his inheritance in 1974 in an exchange-funded S&P 500 stock index (like a retirement fund) and left it there, he would have $3.4 billion today.
Bloomberg estimates that Trump's current net worth is $2.9 billion.
In spite of all of this, Oliver noted that many still connect the Trump brand with success.
"If you are thinking of voting for Donald Trump, the charismatic guy promising to make America great again, stop and take a moment to imagine how you would feel if you just met a guy named Donald Drumpf," Oliver said. "A litigious serial liar with a string of broken business ventures."
"That is why tonight I am asking America to make Donald Drumpf again," Oliver continued.
He then declared that people should use the hashtag #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain – a play on Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" – which spread like wildfire online in advance of Super Tuesday.
On top of Twitter having its fun, Oliver unveiled a website where you can download an plugin for the Google Chrome web browser that replaces all instances of Trump with Drumpf.