text: Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the Mexico-US border — a big, beautiful wall, of course. And while this idea may sound inherently ridiculous to a lot of people, Trump is very serious about it. So on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, Oliver decided to take Trump's primary policy proposal seriously. 
   
   There are lots of problems, according to Oliver: 
   
   Cost: Trump has at varying times estimated that the wall will cost anywhere from $4 billion to $12 billion. But according to the Washington Post, experts put the estimate closer to at least $25 billion. And while Trump insists Mexico will pay for the wall, there is zero evidence for that: Mexican officials have flat-out rejected the idea. 
   
   Trump has at varying times estimated that the wall will cost anywhere from $4 billion to $12 billion. But according to the Washington Post, experts put the estimate closer to at least $25 billion. And while Trump insists Mexico will pay for the wall, there is zero evidence for that: Mexican officials have flat-out rejected the idea. Geography: Where does the wall go? As Oliver points out, this isn't as easy a question to answer as you might think. Large parts of the border are made up of the Rio Grande river. The wall can't be built to obstruct the flow of the river, per a 1970 treaty. 
   
   
   
   As a consequence, big parts of the border fence approved in 2006 were built inland, sometimes actually blocking off US territory, such as the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. As the Guardian put it, the fence has turned into a "costly logistical nightmare." 
   
   Where does the wall go? As Oliver points out, this isn't as easy a question to answer as you might think. Large parts of the border are made up of the Rio Grande river. The wall can't be built to obstruct the flow of the river, per a 1970 treaty. As a consequence, big parts of the border fence approved in 2006 were built inland, sometimes actually blocking off US territory, such as the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. As the Guardian put it, the fence has turned into a "costly logistical nightmare." Effectiveness: It's not clear whether the wall would do much, if anything, to stop the flow of unauthorized immigrants into the US. In a 2006 report, the Pew Research Center estimated that "nearly half of all the unauthorized migrants now living in the United States entered the country legally through a port of entry such as an airport or a border crossing point where they were subject to inspection by immigration officials" — and then they just remained in the country without authorization. A wall wouldn't stop them. 
   
   
   
   Not to mention all the people who would get around the wall with a ladder, rope, or underground tunnel. 
   
   Does this matter to Trump and his supporters? Maybe not. As Oliver noted, many people may want the wall as a symbol — it feels like it keeps the US safe. Trump has said it keeps out Mexican immigrants whom he characterized as "rapists" and "criminals." But a century of empirical research suggests Trump is wrong: Immigrants are potentially less, not more, likely to commit crime than their native-born counterparts. So it's not clear just how much safer it would make America. 
   
   Ultimately, Oliver suggested that buying a $75 electric waffle iron for every American would be a better use of the money than building a wall. 
   
   "I know what you're thinking: 'John, this is a stupid idea.' But is it? Is it, really? Yes, obviously, it is," Oliver said. "But is it significantly stupider than Donald Trump's wall? Because this waffle iron plan will cost less, it'll do nearly as much to keep out immigrants and drugs, it won't harm our relationship with our third-largest trading partner, if it is racist it's only toward Belgians, and, unlike Donald Trump's wall, this makes fucking waffles." 
   
   Watch: Donald Trump's rise is a scary moment in America ||||| If there’s one policy proposal Donald Trump has outlined in great detail, it’s his idea to build a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico—and, of course, to make Mexico pay for it. While the proposal has made a great talking point for Trump, it has also drawn a lot of well-deserved criticism—and on Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver delivered what might be the most thorough takedown yet. 
   
   
   
   At first, Oliver put aside the obvious racism implied by such a plan and instead tackled the absurdity of the plan itself—highlighting its rising proposed costs, the silliness of believing Mexico would pay for it (even as Mexican officials insist they would not), and the practical complications of actually building the wall itself. “It’s like getting a pet walrus,” Oliver said. “You think it’s stupid now? Wait until you find out what a bucket of sea cucumbers costs.” And then there’s the fact that the 30-foot wall could be surmounted by something as simple as a 31-foot ladder. 
   
   
   
   But of course Oliver wasn’t going to leave the racism and xenophobia aside for good. In fact, Trump’s comments that frame immigrants as criminals ignore the data that show that immigrants are less crime-prone than their native-born counterparts. So Oliver ended the segment by making a counterproposal, putting forward a plan that would cost less and do a better job of giving Americans what they truly crave: a warm feeling inside. ||||| + READ ARTICLE 
   
   
   
   
   
   In the wake of his nearly successful campaign to #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain (or at least sell a lot of hats emblazoned with the slogan), John Oliver once again has Donald Trump in his show’s cross hairs. 
   
   Last night, Oliver spent a new episode of Last Week Tonight doing his impression of the Kool Aid Man, knocking down the wall that the Republican presidential candidate wants to build to separate Mexico and the United States in order to curtail illegal immigration. While Trump has estimated the wall would only cost $4 billion, Oliver notes that, “Donald Trump’s margin of error is only the GDP of Moldova.” Oliver did the math on the project and the cost in both dollars and common sense is much more. 
   
   In his take down of the idea, Oliver noted that the wall would cost an estimated $26 billion, would sit on on private property, could take up to ten years to build and has serious effectiveness issues. Oliver believes there is a better way to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain — buy everyone waffle irons. 
   
   And, yes, he knows he looks like a pygmy owl when he delivers the news. 
   
   While the majority of the episode was dedicated to Trump’s wall, the show ended with a very important poll question: 
   
   Which dog would make the best Merrick Garland on their Dog Supreme Court? Vote now.
target: – John Oliver ignored Donald Trump for a long time, then devoted a whole show to ridiculing his candidacy. Now he's specifically going after Trump's plans for a big border wall. In the latest episode of his HBO show, Oliver delivered "what might be the most thorough takedown yet" of Trump's idea to keep out immigrants from Mexico, observes Slate. (See the video here.) Among Oliver's arguments, as rounded up by Time and Vox: It would cost about $26 billion, not $4 billion to $12 billion as Trump says; Mexico wouldn't pay for it; the wall would be a nightmare to build and would likely have to be on private property; and it wouldn't work anyway. Oliver's counterproposal: Buy every American a waffle iron. Says Oliver: "Because this waffle iron plan will cost less, it'll do nearly as much to keep out immigrants and drugs, it won't harm our relationship with our third-largest trading partner, (and) if it is racist it's only toward Belgians ..."