Late night hosts think Trump is acting pretty nonchalant about his imminent war with Iran

(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Late Show, The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live)

published 8 January 2020

"Today, Iran launched a retaliatory missile attack against U.S. troops in Iraq, and our prayers are with the troops and our allies," Jimmy Kimmel said on Tuesday's Kimmel Live. "But this is when it becomes particularly preposterous that our president is Donald Trump. We might be at war, and this guy — you know what he's busy with? He's bragging" about clearly fictional praise from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

And Trump "isn't the only one spreading misinformation," Kimmel said. He used Rep. Paul Gosar's (R-Ariz.) new standard for truth-in-tweeting to show a compromising doctored image and a beat-the-deadline "deepfake" of Trump on Toddlers and Tiaras.

"We're not doing too well on the New Year's resolution of Don't Go to War With Iran," Stephen Colbert said at The Late Show. Even before Iran shot missiles toward U.S. troops, Trump was "very grumpy" about Iran being angry at him for killing Gen. Qassem Soleimani, telling reporters he had no regrets about ordering Soleimani's death but "kinda, sorta" backing off on his threat to bomb Iranian cultural sties, claiming, "I like to obey the law." This improbably led Colbert to a short Grease medley.

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Jimmy Fallon had a Grease sing-and-dance, too. "Trump is busy, today he met with the leader of Greece," he began on The Tonight Show. "Trump was confused, because he thought the leader of Greece was John Travolta." But "when Trump was asked about Iran possibly attacking us, he said, 'If it happens, it happens,'" Fallon noted. "Just like when the Civil War started and Abraham Lincoln declared, 'Eh, it is what it is.'"

Honestly, "it's not that surprising that Trump's response is so muddled and confusing, because he's Trump," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "What is interesting is how the entire administration seems to be just as confused about every aspect of this situation ... starting with the rationale for why they killed Soleimani in the first place." It's almost like Trump and his advisers "have a group chat but Trump never gets the message because he's on Android," he joked, but Trump's retreat from bombing Iran's cultural sites wasn't so amusing: "'I like to obey the law'? No, you have to obey the law. Trump makes the law sound like it's an optional toping at Chipotle. ... It's the Geneva Conventions, not pico de gallo!" Watch below. Peter Weber

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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.