LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER
Welcome to "Last Week Tonight".
I'm John Oliver. Thank you so much for joining us.
It has been a truly terrible week,
one that started with two Jared Letos at the Met Gala
and then somehow managed to get worse from there,
to the point that we're gonna do something a little unusual right now
and that is two main stories.
Our first story tonight concerns the fact that this week
saw the leak of a draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito
that looks set to strike down Roe v. Wade.
While the fate of Roe may not have been a surprise,
the draft itself was still a horror show.
The 67-page draft opinion is clear, sharp and scornful,
declaring in its opening paragraphs that Roe vs Wade "must be overruled"
and that the 1972 ruling "was egregiously wrong from the start."
Alito dismisses the argument in Roe versus Wade
that the right to choose abortion
is part of the constitutional guarantee of liberty and privacy, insisting:
"The inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion
is not deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions."
Okay, but even if that were true, which, by the way, fuck off,
the Framers probably left off the specific right to abortion
because they couldn't anticipate it being such a massive concern.
I don't know why these particular individuals didn't have abortion
on the forefront of their minds, there must have been some explanation.
I can't quite place the exact reason, but it is on the tip of my penis.
Alito wasn't just deferring to the constitution,
he repeatedly cited some other notable sources, too,
like 17th-century jurist Sir Matthew Hale,
who once described abortion as a "great crime".
But that is not all that Hale thought.
He argued that a husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed upon his wife,
"sentenced two women to death for witchcraft"
and argued young women were the "ruin of families",
because they, and I quote: "learn to be bold" and "talk loud".
While those beliefs might earn you
a Netflix comedy special called "Trigger This",
they should disqualify you
as a scholarly reference on the matter of reproductive rights.
This is not the first time that we've talked about abortion on this show.
In fact, the first time that we talked about it in depth,
we rewarded anyone for sticking to the end of our story
with a video of sloths playing in a bucket
that was almost criminally joyful.
And if you're expecting something similar this time,
I've got some bad news for you: those sloths are dead now.
All of them, two from heroin. It's time to grow up.
We need to be able to talk about abortion like adults.
When, as now seems inevitable, this ruling becomes official,
there will be immediate and devastating consequences.
And it is worth taking some time to talk about a few things:
what this ruling means, how we got to this point
and where we go now.
And when it comes to what this means, it's catastrophic.
It'll quickly trigger bans on abortion in these 22 states.
And if you are still unaware of just how ubiquitous a procedure this is,
an estimated "25 percent of women have an abortion"
and six in 10 of them are already parents.
Some who get abortions are survivors of rape or incest,
others might need one for medical reasons, but also, just to be clear,
some will be seeking an abortion because they fucking want one
and this is very much about them, too.
This a fight for people's right to have control over their bodies.
It's about bodily autonomy.
The only time it's okay to argue against that
is if the body in question belongs to Elmo.
Because then, it is actually fine. He literally cannot function
unless someone else is arm-fucking him from below.
But anything beyond that example is just not okay.
And some conservatives have argued that the reaction this week
has been hysterical, that this is returning the issue to the states
and that people do still have a choice.
This is not an opinion that is going to undo abortion in this country.
States may put some more restrictions on it,
but people have the right to leave, they can go live somewhere else
where it's more of a free-for-all and they can do whatever they want.
Okay, first... "Where it's more of a free-for-all?"
Let's just get one thing straight. If you move to Delaware,
you're not in some bacchanalian, buy-one-get-one-free abortion paradise.
You're just in Wilmington.
I just don't want anyone to be disappointed when they visit.
But also, it's not about merely having the right to go somewhere else.
It's about whether you have the resources and ability to do that.
And many may not, with this disproportionately affecting
those with disabilities, transgenders, immigrants or people of color.
Even with just the existing laws that have been recently passed,
abortions had become increasingly difficult to get.
Watch as one woman in Texas
learned what getting an abortion would entail for her,
after her state passed its so-called "fetal heartbeat" law last year.
You're measuring at 6.1 weeks today,
but we do see fetal cardiac activity on the ultrasound.
So, as of September 1st in Texas, what that means
is that you are ineligible to have an abortion in the state of Texas now.
Your next options would be traveling out of state
to get the procedure done.
I didn't even know that I was pregnant. I kind of just took a test.
I'm six weeks and one day pregnant. I'm not ready to have another kid.
I have two other little ones that I take care of by myself.
This kind of was very unexpected.
Other forms of birth control failed me and now it looks like I'm jumping
through more hoops in order to keep our lives going.
Six weeks and a day and she can't get an abortion.
For most people, that is a period that is two weeks late.
And your period could be two weeks late for any number of reasons.
Maybe you're tired, or traveling, or you had a change in diet or exercise,
or maybe you're dealing with the stress of living in a misogynistic theocracy
run by five of the biggest weirdos in the country,
including Justice Beer Pong here
and Justice My Wife Planned a Coup And All I Got Was No Consequences.
In that woman's particular case, she was able to take a loan
and drive all the way to Oklahoma to get an abortion.
As awful as this sounds, she was actually lucky there,
because now, that is no longer possible.
This week, Oklahoma's governor signed a Texas-style abortion ban into law.
Which is one of the worst things that Oklahoma has ever produced,
as I'll remind you, it also gave the world Dr. fucking Phil.
Given that half of those who have abortions are below the poverty line,
with an additional one-quarter very close to it,
many will be facing limited options.
One estimate is that in the year after the ruling,
there will be roughly 75 000 people who want but can't get abortions
and will give birth instead.
And inevitably, some of those people will die,
because pregnancy is a major medical event.
Those living in states with the most restrictive abortion policies,
and thus the least access to them,
"were found to be more likely to die while pregnant or shortly thereafter."
I know this is all extremely grim.
But it is now worth taking a moment on exactly how we got to this point,
especially as some have been telling a slightly incomplete story this week.
Listen to Chuck Schumer pointing the finger of blame in one direction.
This isn't your grandfather's Republican Party, America.
It's Donald Trump's Republican Party.
Hold on, there. In what way is this not your grandfather's Republican Party?
It has been advocating for this exact outcome for decades now.
I would be willing to bet that if your grandfather died in the '70s,
came back to life right now and scanned the news,
the first thing he'd say is that the current Republican Party
sounds exactly like the one he remembers.
I take that back, the first thing he'd say is: "Who's Elon Musk?"
To which you'd say: "He's a rich asshole who wants to own Twitter."
To which he'd say: "What's Twitter?" And you'd say:
"A massive public toilet that people shit their bad opinions into,"
"but at least Cher is on there, too!"
To which he'd reply: "You mean Sonny's wife?"
And you'd say: "Yeah!", because you don't really have time
to fill him in on the divorce, much less the accident,
to which he'd say: "How's Sonny doing, by the way?"
Yeah, he's great! Very healthy! To which he'd reply:
"Does he still have the mustache?" And you'd say: "Yeah, you betcha!"
because you are way too deep into the lie to admit to your grandpa
that Sonny Bono died by skiing into a tree.
After all of that conversation, he'd definitely look at you and say
that the current Republican Party sounds like the one that he remembers.
Because it does. This is just not a recent development at all.
Because while, yes, Trump did pick one-third of this court,
including a seat for Gorsuch that was stolen for him,
that was the result of decades of work by anti-abortion forces.
Long before Trump ever even considered running for office,
conservatives were openly announcing their intention to overturn Roe.
In fact, the very day the Roe decision was handed down,
the strategizing against it had already begun.
Just watch this news report from that day, featuring a lawyer
talking about a lawsuit that he was supporting that could overturn Roe.
What about the child's right? When you talk about the woman's right,
you're talking about one-third of the rights involved.
The mother, the father and the child. Somebody's morality, or lack of it,
is certainly imposed upon the unborn children who are killed.
Women have one-third of the rights involved. That is kind of perfect.
Because if there is one thing that we love to do in America,
it's turn everyone who isn't a straight white man into a fucking fraction.
That is something that truly is
"deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions."
But arguments like that are why some Democrats, like Bella Abzug,
argued in the wake of the Roe decision that Congress still needed
to quickly pass legislation codifying the right to an abortion.
And she was absolutely right. But, of course, they didn't do that.
Nor did they do it as the anti-abortion movement kicked into high gear
in the late 1970s, with the support of evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell,
who helped elevate the abortion issue
as a way of motivating conservative voters to the polls.
They didn't even do it as anti-abortion legislators managed
to pass 1000 restrictions into law at the state level.
Too many Democratic leaders shied away from engaging in that fight,
or were squeamish in their defense of abortion.
Bill Clinton, for instance, argued that it should be "safe, legal and rare",
which "cast abortion as a regrettably necessary evil,"
"not a cornerstone of comprehensive health care."
While later, Barack Obama campaigned on passing the Freedom of Choice Act,
enshrining the rights to abortion into law,
when he was reminded of that promise 100 days into his presidency,
he wasted no time distancing himself from it.
The Freedom of Choice Act is not my highest legislative priority.
I believe that women should have the right to choose.
But I think that the most important thing we can do to tamp down
some of the anger surrounding this issue
is to focus on those areas that we can agree on.
Okay, except that's just ridiculous.
Partly because this is something a majority of Americans do agree on.
Polls consistently show that around two-thirds of Americans
support the Roe v. Wade decision, two-thirds!
Presidents can't even get an approval rating that high,
unless there are, like, two 9/11s.
It's called an 18/22. If we're honest, it might actually be coming.
And that's sadly been emblematic of Democrats' approach,
offering vague statements in support,
while abortion has been specifically under attack.
Republicans have focused on this issue with relentless determination.
Here is Jerry Falwell, right after Alito was appointed to the court,
taking a victory lap following a ruling that upheld the ban
on a specific abortion procedure.
That is the culmination, for me, of about 35 years of work.
I don't think we have five votes on Roe v. Wade.
I think we're probably one or two votes short.
As we talked that last week of his life,
Falwell seemed to recognize that his battle to end all abortions
would have to be won by the next generation of God's warriors.
My children are more likely to see this victory won than I am.
I think we're 50 years away. We've got to just stay with it,
and never give up.
Even the truly magnificent sight of Jerry Falwell in a coffin
somehow still doesn't make that go down any easier.
Falwell was actually pessimistic in his prediction there.
They achieved that victory 35 years ahead of his 50-year schedule.
That's not the only thing that he was wrong about in that interview,
because he also said that he'd been praying for another 20 years of life,
despite only having about one week of it left.
So, I guess at the very least we now know that God
didn't want to listen to any more of Jerry Falwell's bullshit either.
It is important to know, conservatives aren't remotely done here.
They've already embarked on the next fight,
with Louisiana just this week advancing legislation
that would allow prosecutors there to charge those who get abortions,
or provide them, with homicide.
That bill, like anti-abortion legislation in several other states,
even defines personhood as "beginning from the moment of fertilization",
which "would criminalize in vitro fertilization and birth control."
And all of this is happening,
even as other countries are expanding reproductive rights.
Even Ireland is now more progressive on abortion than some U.S. states.
If you are not up on your Irish history, that was not always the case!
And that is as much as I will weigh in on Irish history,
because I sound like this.
It's not just Ireland, other predominantly Catholic countries,
like Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, have also expanded abortion rights.
Just two months ago, Colombia won a massive court victory there,
to huge celebrations.
This is historic. It brings us such happiness.
Because little by little, we are changing our history.
We finally succeeded in having them allow us to decide over our bodies.
We fought for this for many years
and clandestine abortions took the lives of so many women.
That is truly inspiring to watch, and also, quick shoutout
to the individual who made a crocheted ski mask with the letters "ACAB".
Let this be a lesson that you absolutely don't want to fuck
with someone who has the patience, attention to detail
and sustained anger to crochet their resentment into a handmade garment.
That is stamina. That is someone in the fight for the long haul.
So clearly, we in the States have a lot of work to do right now,
both in the short and the long term.
And let us start with those in the most immediate danger:
people who need an abortion
in states where bans are or are about to be in effect.
You still have options available to you and one good way to find out
what they are is to go to the website "I-need-an-A-dot-com".
It has lots of info, including what is permitted where you live
and where you can find clinics and appropriate resources.
If you're struggling financially, one of those resources
might be an abortion fund, which can help cover your expenses.
If you want to access or support one of those funds, there are lots,
like The Brigid Alliance, which helps abortion patients
who are traveling long distances to reach their appointments,
and The Lilith and Yellowhammer funds,
both of which help people on the ground in impacted states.
These are just stopgap solutions to deal with an immediate crisis.
Long-term, we need elected officials
to stop tiptoeing around the issue of abortion
and take steps to properly safeguard it.
Now, the dream version of this would be a constitutional amendment
that'd support people's fundamental rights to make personal decisions
about contraception, pregnancy, marriage and family life.
Until then, we're going to need other legislation at state and federal level.
And while we're at it, we may now also need to shore up
all the other rights supposedly guaranteed by Supreme Court rulings,
from voting rights to gay marriage, because the fact is,
under the current Supreme Court,
your basic rights today could become crimes tomorrow.
And there are actually some small opportunities for you on the horizon.
In at least these four states,
abortion is going to be on the ballot this year.
I know you would probably rather eat shards of glass
than be told to vote one more time.
Especially if you've been keeping up your end of the deal:
showing up to the polls and holding your nose to vote for a candidate
you may not even like, while enduring thousands of texts screaming:
"It is the most important election of your lifetime,"
"donate 20 dollars to the DNC right now."
And you didn't text "stop 2 quit" once,
no matter how much you wanted to,
and you wanted to throw your phone in the fucking river!
I also get why "just vote" is an infuriatingly insufficient slogan,
when voting rights themselves are under siege.
I cannot defend the system we currently have.
But it is, unfortunately, the one we've got right now.
So, electoral victories are going to be critical here.
They also must be followed by concrete actions by those that we elect.
Because Republicans, if nothing else,
just grimly demonstrated what committed action can actually achieve.
They never accepted Roe v. Wade as final. They played the long game,
and not always fairly, but they rallied their base
and relentlessly held their party leaders accountable,
whether they liked those leaders or not.
And then, crucially, those leaders delivered for them,
because they understood that voting is only meaningful
if the people who win actually do what they fucking promise you.
Anti-choice advocates worked really hard for a really long time
to ensure that Roe would not be permanent.
But the thing is, its undoing doesn't have to be, either.
This week, we have all been reminded
of what the most marginalized people have known for years:
that freedoms are never guaranteed, they are hard-won and easily lost.
Progress requires a consistent, sustained struggle,
a willingness to disrupt everyday life
and actual courage from the people that we choose to lead us.
In short, we are all going to badly need to have the same anger
and the same willingness for a long-haul fight
as the world's most hardcore knitter.
And now, this.
Local News Shows Go Through the Motions for "Star Wars" Day.
Good morning, San Diego. I'm Lauren Phinney.
I'm Paul Rudy. Today is Wednesday. Say it with me, Lauren.
Now say it with me.
May the fourth be with you.
Today is a celebration for the Star Wars fans. It is May the fourth.
- We know how much you love today. - Really look forward to it.
I don't mind the movies. I don't like how they took this day
and made it this: "May the fourth be with you", but I get it.
Does that do anything better for you? No?
Turn it on. Now hit the button.
It's not working. Anyway, should I be attacking these two?
From the other galaxy? They're good guys?
- Harrison Ford, was that... - Han Solo!
- That's the guy I was talking about. - An hour later, we got it.
And I'd want to be him, 'cause he was cool. He had the spaceship.
- And he got all the women. - There you go.
Moving on. Our main story tonight concerns the Philippines.
It's the country that gave us, among other things,
Bruno Mars, Olivia Rodrigo, and Jollibee,
the single greatest fast-food mascot of all time.
He's a six-foot five bee in a tuxedo top
that just wants to serve you fried chicken and spaghetti.
What do we have that compares to that? Terrifyingly Large Child?
Hamburger Joker? Hello Mister Police I Gave You All The Clues? Please.
The winner here is clear.
We've discussed the Philippines on this show before,
mostly thanks to their current leader and self-proclaimed dictator,
Rodrigo Duterte, who has, if nothing else, a way with words.
I wanted to call Pope you son of a whore, go home!
Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.
Why do you have to, you know, fuck with us, goddamnit?
Once again, I'll repeat it, fuck you.
That is a striking amount of swearing, but you also cannot understate
how brazen it is for the president of the Philippines,
a nation over 80 percent Catholic, to call the Pope "a son of a whore".
That is a big deal.
Imagine if Joe Biden publicly told Dolly Parton to go fuck herself.
Forget backlash, he'd be dragged from the White House, and rightly so.
While Duterte's language may have been shocking,
his actions have been far worse, especially his war on drugs.
It's estimated that on his watch, government officials or vigilantes
have killed up to 30 000 people,
in violence which even triggered the International Criminal Court
to launch "an investigation into possible crimes against humanity."
And Duterte has viciously targeted his critics.
This senator, who launched an investigation into his drug war,
has been languishing in jail for the last five years.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her news website Rappler,
have been buried in legal actions, facing at least 11 cases
and 10 arrest warrants since Duterte came into office,
and the thing is, that's just the beginning.
The Philippines ranks among the top 10 deadliest countries for journalists.
Reports say as many as 19 of them
have been killed since Duterte took office.
At news of one, he replied: "Just because you're a journalist"
"you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a..."
Holy shit. That speaks not only to his brutality,
but also to the incredible bravery of journalists there.
The possibility of assassination
is the kind of thing that can thin out a work force.
If Michaels' job's listing said:
"Applicants must have some familiarity with candle-making and scrapbooking."
"Also, please note, employees are not exempted from assassination,"
"if they're sons of bitches."
I don't think anyone would work at Michaels anymore.
Now, thankfully, Duterte's term is about to come to an end.
Presidents in the Philippines can only serve one six-year term
and elections are actually happening there tomorrow.
And this is a big election, in every sense,
the Philippines is a nation of 100 million people
and turnout is often around 80 percent.
Unfortunately, there are some familiar faces running in this.
Duterte's own daughter, Sara, is running for vice president,
a position which is elected separately in the Philippines.
To get just a little sense of her, here she is when she was a mayor,
punching a local sheriff that she was angry with.
And it is just not great that you can look at that and fairly say:
"At least she's not as violent as her dad."
But there's also someone running for president,
and who is pretty likely to win, who has an even more alarming last name.
A front-runner in the current polls, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
His father declared martial law,
ruling the Philippines with a terrible human rights record,
until a popular uprising ousted him in 1986.
His mother, Imelda, still famous for her shoes.
The son of a guy who terrorized the Philippines for years
is now the frontrunner to take over.
I'm not saying that anyone should be judged solely on their family name.
It's just a little weird in his particular case.
It'd be like if the most popular frozen yogurt chain in the U.S.
was called Bin Laden's Froyo Delights.
I'm not saying a frozen yogurt shop cannot be called that,
I just wouldn't expect it to be a national hit.
That is, after all, why they changed it to Pinkberry.
As for Imelda Marcos's gigantic shoe collection,
that wasn't just a fun personality quirk.
It was a sign of the staggering scale of the Marcoses' graft.
They embezzled billions of dollars from the Philippines,
to the point that it was once recognized by the Guinness World Records
as the "greatest robbery of a government".
It is weird for them to be handing out records for such a terrible thing.
It's like giving Lee Harvey Oswald an award for "most JFK's shot".
But the enormity of the Marcos family's theft
makes how Bongbong has described his childhood on the campaign trail
a little hard to swallow.
My parents would never let us forget
that this is not yours, this is from the people.
Everything we have, all the advantages that we have gained,
any successes that we have achieved and any comfort or privilege we enjoy
comes from the people.
Now, I will say this: that is not technically inaccurate.
The Marcoses are sort of the British Museum of families,
in that most of what they have is fucking stolen.
So, if you are wondering how on earth it is possible
for the son of the Philippines' most notorious leader
to now be on the brink of running the country,
that is what this story is about.
And before we start,
there is a lot of history between the U.S. and the Philippines
and none of it reflects particularly well on us.
To give you just a quick rundown,
first, the U.S. bought the Philippines in 1898,
then utterly brutalized them in their fight for independence
in the Philippine-American War, which resulted in "200 000 casualties",
then subjected them to 50 years of repressive and racist colonial rule,
and then, even after granting them their independence in 1946,
continued to use the CIA to meddle in their affairs.
It was an attitude of unchecked imperialism
that was, and I do not say this lightly, borderline British.
The story of the... That hurt, didn't it, and it should have done!
But the story of the Marcoses dynasty really begins in 1965,
when Ferdinand Marcos was elected.
While initially presenting himself as a reformer,
by his second term, facing dissent, he cracked down hard,
inventing or exaggerating internal threats to justify imposing martial law.
And that was a period which was, to put it very, very mildly,
a bad time to be in the Philippines.
Under martial law, some "34 000 were tortured"
and thousands more were killed.
The Marcoses were siphoning off money on an astonishing scale,
with Imelda particularly adept at spending it.
Imelda, known as "the iron butterfly",
would become a notorious jet-setting socialite and fashion icon,
amassing hundreds of millions in jewels, fine art, real estate.
Her travels so luxurious, she once reportedly spent 2000 dollars
on chewing gum during a layover in San Francisco.
She even forced an airplane departing Rome
to make a U-turn because she forgot to buy cheese.
Hold on, 'cause I do have some questions there.
First, what do you mean "forced" an airplane?
Did Imelda storm the cockpit?
Did a pilot say a soft prayer to see his children again
all because Imelda Marcos had a hankering for pecorino?
Also, if you forget to buy cheese in Italy, you're okay!
Filipino cuisine is perfectly delicious without it.
Anyone who's eaten a single plate of adobo knows
there is no need to introduce aged cow jizz into the equation.
But as the Marcoses plundered and mismanaged the country,
the average Filipino suffered badly, the economy was in crisis,
and the incomes of wage laborers declined substantially,
to the point that, by the end of Ferdinand's time in office,
many Filipinos were surviving on "less than 2 dollars a day."
While Bongbong is not innately responsible for actions of his father,
he very much benefited from that spending spree.
The Marcoses lavished money on their children,
including this birthday party for their daughter.
Extravagant parties on the presidential yacht,
decadent by the standards of this Catholic nation.
Ferdinand Jr., nicknamed Bongbong, governor of the family's home province,
is the man in the flashing bow tie.
What did I just watch there? I don't know what's more unsettling,
the adult baby emerging from a cake screaming "mommy"
or the fact that while Bongbong looks very young there,
he was actually a governor then.
And honestly, I would not trust a man wearing that bow tie to run anything.
I wouldn't even trust him with the job that he's dressed for there:
bringing out the birthday cake at an Olive Garden.
The Marcoses were ultimately forced to flee the country
after a mass uprising in 1986.
But Ferdinand held on to the billions that he stole.
They were granted asylum in Hawaii and took a lot with them on the plane,
showing up with "7 million in cash and gems"
and "24 bars of gold engraved: 'To my husband on our 24th anniversary.'"
Which is not remotely romantic.
That anniversary present is the pilfering billionaire equivalent
of handing your spouse an envelope of cash labeled:
"we have been married for 24 years as of today."
But obviously, they did have to leave some things behind,
and for many in the Philippines, it was a real shock to see
the sheer extent to which they'd just been robbed.
Filipinos who used to be kept blocks from the Marcoses' private universe
got a 20-minute kaleidoscope of unimaginable luxury.
Including the former first lady's 10-foot-wide bed.
That's why a lot of people here in the Philippines are starving.
As far as Ray is concerned, the Marcoses belong in jail.
He can come back here in the Philippines
to face what he do to the people of the Philippines.
Yeah, it's funny, seeing the wealth of the rulers who ripped you off
does tend to put things into perspective.
It's like how after French workers learned of the majesty of Versailles
in the 18th century, the revolution was right around the corner.
Hold on, they have four gold-plated pipe organs?
Yeah, these motherfuckers are gonna have to go.
Now, in the end, a government commission was set up
to track down and recover the stolen money and assets,
but 36 years later, thanks to court delays and the Marcoses fighting them,
they've only retrieved about 5 billion,
or around half of what was estimated to have been stolen.
This is actually something that Bongbong was directly asked about
when he ran for vice president six years ago,
and his response back then was pretty infuriating.
An apology should be voluntarily given.
We cannot force it out of him.
But for me, it's the recognition of the numerous mistakes in the past.
Those include the hidden wealth that until now has not been returned.
It is stolen from the people of the nation.
I cannot give what I do not have.
I do not have control. I do not have any knowledge of any of the things.
Once again, let me repeat, I cannot give what I do not have.
Not great. But also, I will say, credit to the sign language interpreter,
who managed to get across not just what he was saying,
but also communicate his whole "big angry crybaby" vibe.
It is impressive that Bongbong is somehow the biggest baby in this story
and it also contains this fucking guy.
Despite being booed for that response,
Bongbong is now on the edge of being elected president.
And that is because, over the past decade,
something kind of remarkable has happened in the Philippines
and that is, history has been rewritten.
Since the return of the Marcoses,
there's been a trickle of new information in YouTube,
in Google, that's a revision of the interpretation of martial law.
What do you read, what do you hear about martial law?
About President Marcos?
During martial law the life of people became peaceful.
I also heard the Philippines became rich.
I think martial law made the Philippines better.
That is a stark rewriting of a terrible period.
And I do realize that the U.S. isn't exactly perfect here, either.
We grapple with our greatest monsters by putting up reminders of them
on mountains, in town squares and on crisp 20 dollar bills.
This willful distortion of history has been abetted by the internet,
as the Philippines frequently ranks as the most online nation in the world.
That is actually something that Duterte very much benefited from,
as he "rode a wave of false stories, paid trolling and Facebook engagement"
all the way to the presidency.
Facebook itself even called him
the "undisputed king of Facebook conversations",
a title surprisingly not held by your uncle
who has hot takes on the vaccine he thinks you should know about.
And the internet is now similarly awash in Facebook posts and videos
that both glorify and romanticize the Marcos family.
Popular posts on Facebook have explained away
Ferdinand's ill-gotten wealth, saying that his fortune came
from treasure left by a Japanese general after World War II
or that it was earned for being a "fantastic lawyer".
There's also this one suggesting that Marcos, at one point,
gave bread to a young Michael Jordan.
It seems to have originated as a joke
but has since been passed around completely seriously.
Let's just break this story down.
On December 24th, 1969, the Marcos family was in Wilmington,
North Carolina, to celebrate the holidays.
That tracks. If you're a billionaire from the other side of the world
and you want to celebrate the holidays in America,
there's only one place that you're going and that's Wilmington, North Carolina.
Then, President Marcos was walking in a park
and he saw a skinny child begging for food.
He gave him a whole box of Nutribun and said:
"Bring this with you child, someday you will grow up to be someone important."
So, to be clear, in this story, Marcos was walking through a park,
holding bread, specifically Nutribun, a bread mainly sold in the Philippines.
Meaning Marcos flew to the United States with Nutribun
because he was like: "What if we get to Wilmington,"
"my favorite holiday destination, and they don't have any bread there?"
Then, he went to the park and passed like 10 other kids, thinking:
"None of you are gonna grow up to be important,"
"so you're not getting any of my park bread",
then he saw Michael Jordan and was like:
"Wait, I'm pretty sure that you are gonna be important,"
"so have this bread that I brought from the other side of the world."
And then that kid grew up to be Michael Jordan,
the greatest basketball player who ever lived.
That is the dumbest story involving a young Jordan I ever heard
and I have seen "Space Jam".
So, that is just a taste of the online nonsense
which is successfully reframing the Marcos family history.
And at the same time, Bongbong's main rival, Leni Robredo,
the current vice president and the woman that you saw
challenging him in that debate clip earlier,
has faced vicious attacks online, ranging from false allegations
that she has ties to armed communist rebels
to phony rumors that she murdered her husband.
In fact, fact-checkers have reported
that "almost all the disinformation about Robredo is negative",
while any disinformation about Bongbong
"overwhelmingly puts him in a positive light."
But maybe the most fantastical lie that Bongbong's campaign has told
is actually the most mundane one:
that he's not the scion of a political crime family,
he's just a regular, ordinary citizen who happen to run for president.
Here is how his wife described the moment that he decided to run.
Six months ago, he wasn't yet sure what to do,
we had no party, you know.
And then one day we were watching "Ant-Man" in the room,
'cause we love Marvel movies, and then he looked at me
and he goes: "Okay, we're gonna do this," he told me.
I said: "Do what?" Run for the presidency.
No fucking way. That did not happen.
I am calling total bullshit on the idea
that Bongbong decided to run for president out of nowhere,
mid-Marvel film.
I can think of a much more salient reason that he'd want to run.
As President, Bongbong would hold sway over the commission
devoted to investigating and recovering his family's wealth,
as well as the tax office.
Which would be particularly useful for him,
as the Marcoses have refused to pay a tax bill
that reportedly amounts to 3.9 billion dollars, including penalties.
So Bongbong could easily tell his own administration
to just forget about his massive debt, which is a very appealing idea for him.
When you think of it,
"Ant-Man" could actually be the perfect movie to inspire him,
given that it's about a thief whose questionable past is forgotten
after he rises to power using resources that he also stole.
Of course he fucking likes "Ant-Man"!
Bongbong's brand relaunch has not worked on absolutely everyone.
Plenty of Filipinos are still opposed to him
and to having the Marcos era rewritten in front of their very eyes.
Despite trailing Bongbong massively in the polls,
Leni Robredo has inspired huge rallies there.
Walden Bello, who is running against Sara Duterte for vice president,
has been outspoken about just how outrageous he finds all of this.
Marcos has created a big public relations machine
that uses social media to try to convince people
that the 14 years of martial law, the collective nightmarian,
he's trying to use social media and his hundreds of trolls to say:
"My God, golden years..."
This is a family that has raped the country,
it has not apologized to the country, and he wants to rape the country again.
Fuck you, Marcos!
Yeah, well put. Very well put.
It's clear, no matter how hard you try to reinvent yourself,
there's always going to be some who remember who you really are.
Whether you're a new college freshman trying on a British accent
or a massive tech oligarchy
trying to paper over its complicity in violence and genocide.
Mark, I think Meta's really starting to catch on!
Just give it a few more weeks, maybe. You're doing great, buddy!
People are really pumped for this.
It has been truly amazing to see the Philippines election unfold.
Because in this election, they're not voting on their future.
They're voting on their past,
specifically, which one do they want to believe?
The one where Ferdinand Marcos
wreaked havoc on a country and its people under martial law?
Or the one where he was somehow the greatest NBA scout of all time?
I know that most people watching this are not eligible to vote in it,
although, if you are, and you are watching:
"Kumusta! Maraming salamat po!"
And to you, let me just say this, I do get why you'd be skeptical
about a breakdown of your politics from someone
with what I can only describe as "big colonizer energy",
and who lives in a country that is frankly no stranger
to dishonest billionaires who propelled themselves to power with Facebook lies.
Don't listen to me. But maybe do listen to your fellow citizens,
who both remember the past and are determined not to repeat it.
Because Bongbong Marcos has shown virtually no remorse
for what his father put the country through.
And if the Philippines is to avoid more of the same graft and violence
that they've experienced over the past 50 years,
they are going to need these people and others like them to continue
speaking out and telling the likes of Bongbong Marcos,
if I may use the poetic words of the Philippines' current president...
"Fuck you!" And now, this.
WDIV Meteorologist Brandon Roux enjoys Cinco de Mayo a Little Too Much.
Take a look at a beautiful skyline here and a beautiful sky,
el cielo, on this Cinco de Mayo.
Cinco de Mayo tomorrow should start with sun.
A little bit of sunshine, el sol. We'll keep Cinco de Mayo mostly dry.
Cinco de Mayo, I think we hold off the rain.
Looks pretty good here on this Cinco de Mayo.
It will be sesenta tres. Sesenta y tres.
Rain chances, if you have the Cinco de Mayo fiesta plans.
Little fiesta, then a quick siesta. Parcialmente nublado.
El cielo es parcialmente nublado, o mayormente nublado.
What language was that?
I just said: "The sky is partly cloudy or at times, mostly cloudy."
Here's Kim DeGiulio with your traffico.
All right, traffic looking bueno.
That's our show. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week. Good night!