Late night hosts are uniformly disgusted at Trump and his Fox News friends sliming Lt. Col. Vindman
"The impeachment inquiry keeps moving forward — and the Republicans keep sinking lower," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. Forget rock bottom, "in the last 24 hours they have gotten out the blasting caps and they are fracking America's moral bedrock." Tuesday's fracking involved Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a current National Security Council official who provided damaging first-hand testimony to House impeachment investigators about President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Vindman's record is sterling," including combat tours in Iraq and a Purple Heart, Colbert said. "I think it's fair to say that unlike Donald Trump, Vindman's character is unimpeachable. But that didn't stop all the president's toadies from questioning his loyalty."
"I guess it all comes down to who do you believe: The guy with the Purple Heart or the guy with the orange face?" Jimmy Kimmel said at Kimmel Live. "Maybe the most disgusting thing going on today is the president and his sycophants are questioning the patriotism and loyalty of an American combat veteran," Kimmel said. "The patriots over at Fox News found it very suspicious that our top Ukraine expert is from Ukraine — and it is suspicious when you learn someone in the Trump administration has actual expertise in his field." He had a good laugh at the notion that "the Ukrainians managed to indoctrinate a toddler to use the potty and do their bidding to one day bring down the president of the United States."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yes, "the new angle on Fox is that Americans can't trust this Purple Heart recipient because he moved here from Ukraine" — when he was 3, The Daily Show's Trevor Noah sighed. "What kind of baby spy thriller were you guys watching?" He had some fun with the baby-spy concept then laughed at a former GOP congressman's "epic self-own" on CNN: "In an effort to undermine Col. Vindman, Sean Duffy over here has just made it sound like he would sell out America to another country."
At Late Night, Seth Meyers noted that while Vindman was serving in the Army, Duffy was on MTV's The Real World. Watch his other jokes about Vindman's detractors below. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Why Saudi Arabia is muscling in on the world of animeUnder the Radar The anime industry is the latest focus of the kingdom’s ‘soft power’ portfolio
-
Scoundrels, spies and squires in January TVthe week recommends This month’s new releases include ‘The Pitt,’ ‘Industry,’ ‘Ponies’ and ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
-
Venezuela: The ‘Donroe doctrine’ takes shapeFeature President Trump wants to impose “American dominance”
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
A peek inside Europe’s luxury new sleeper busThe Week Recommends Overnight service with stops across Switzerland and the Netherlands promises a comfortable no-fly adventure
-
Could smaller cars bring down vehicle prices?Today’s Big Question Trump seems to think so, but experts aren’t so sure
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
How Maga fell out of love with beerIn The Spotlight Right-wingers in the US have boycotted beverage brands that fell foul of culture war, and now some are going fully sober
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
