Since Donald Trump's election, America's late-night show hosts have abandoned genuine comedy in favor of rabid, anti-Trump resistance. That's certainly their perogative.
But if that's how they want it, they should be called out when they attempt to rewrite history as Stephen Colbert did Tuesday night. The Late Show host claimed that the now-nixed Iran deal was an "American promise," and a "treaty." It was obviously neither.
It would be tempting to ignore Colbert's pathetic brand of "comedy" as the loony rants of an unhinged leftist who is slowly but surely watching the rationale for his show's political posturing evaporate. But unfortunately, many of his viewers buy into his fantasies.
The establishment press isn't making the same amateur mistakes Colbert promoted Tuesday, but it has been delusionally portraying the "Iran deal" as far more than it has ever been, as seen in this Tuesday Associated Press report:
Later, AP reporters Catherine Lucey and Josh Lederman went into hysterical overdrive:
Andrew McCarthy at National Review tore apart the AP's and others' claims Tuesday evening:
President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is the greatest boost for American and global security in decades.
... President Obama, and his trusty factotum John Kerry, made an agreement that guaranteed Iran would obtain a nuclear weapon.
... The JCPOA empowered the totalitarians. Trump’s exit squeezes them.
The deal was a farce that literally obligated the United States not merely to accede to Iran’s enrichment of uranium but to help protect Iran’s nuclear facilities. ... The Obama administration spared Iran from revealing the history of its nuclear program, which would have been necessary to establish a baseline for compliance purposes; it cut side deals — concealed from Congress — that made verification procedures an impenetrable private arrangement between Iran and the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency; and it agreed to limits on what IAEA was allowed to report about Iranian violations ...
... Nations will be put to a choice: You can have access to the U.S. economy or you can have commerce with Iran — not both. Our European allies know this is not a real choice: They can’t isolate us, they need us, our markets, and the umbrella of our protection.
... Moreover, the JCPOA did not represent America’s word, it represented Obama’s word. ... We give our word when we enter a treaty or enact legislation that cements commitments. Obama did not seek to make his deal a treaty precisely because he knew America was not giving its word.
... For today, President Trump has reestablished that the United States and the world are more secure when we confront our enemies rather than fantasizing that they are suitable negotiating partners — even as they bray, “Death to America!”
Remember how ridiculous it got when Iran's apologists insisted that "Death to America!" really doesn't mean "Death to America!"?
With that background, it's easy to see how ignorant Colbert's Tuesday evening claims were:
Transcript:
STEPHEN COLBERT: You literally just backed out of an American promise.
That's like saying, "I'm no longer denying my alcoholism. Let's drink to that.
(spends the next insufferable 20 seconds pretending to have multiple drinks)
Nobody wants Iran to have nuclear weapons. That's what the treaty was supposed to stop.
Pants on fire, Mr. Colbert.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
