John Oliver: Why this year's third-party candidates aren't fit to be president

On Sunday's "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver addressed the disillusionment of American voters with the major-party presidential candidates by properly vetting - and dismissing - the two prominent third-party candidates: Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.

"When your two main options are depressing, any third choice seems good," Oliver said. "If you're in a KFC/Taco Bell and you see a bunch of pigeons eating something in the parking lot, you might well think, 'Hang on-what have they got over there?'"

Citing a poll that showed more than a third of young voters saying they'll vote for a third-party candidate, Oliver put forth a series of arguments that showed why, to his mind, neither Stein nor Johnson is fit for the presidency. 

Stein, who's currently polling around 2 percent nationally, boasts that she would eliminate all $1.3 billion in student debt in the same "quantitative easing" manner that the government has used to bail out Wall Street - a policy she has described as a magic trick.

Though Stein once stated in a Reddit AMA that "the president then has the authority to cancel the student debt using quantitative easing," Oliver rebuked her policy proposal as illegitimate. 

"That is absolutely wrong," Oliver said. "The president does not have that authority, only the Federal Reserve does -and it does not take marching orders from the White House because that would be extremely dangerous. You don't want to give presidents the power to just create new money whenever they want it."

The "Last Week Tonight" host then turned to Gary Johnson.

"He has been polling around 6 percent nationally," Oliver said, "which is pretty remarkable, given that his race has been largely notable for moments like not knowing what Aleppo is, not being able to name a world leader." 

Oliver addressed Johnson's bizarre public behavior over the course of the campaign. The Libertarian nominee once talked with his tongue out at a visibly perplexed and uncomfortable reporter, and he once described his climbing of Mt. Everest in the following manner: "I did not conquer Mt. Everest. She lifted her skirt, and I got in there and got a peek, and it was really cool."

Johnson has also impulsively suggested that he would cut three important government departments - the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development - without apparent knowledge of what those agencies do. 

"The more you look at Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, the more you realize the lack of coverage they complain about so much might have genuinely benefitted them," Oliver concluded, "because their key proposals crumble under the slightest amount of scrutiny."

Watch the segment below: