President Trump's interview with Fox News last week didn't answer all of Stephen Colbert's questions about the Iran conflict, so he spliced himself into the interview on Monday's Late Show.
"On Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper did his best, and it wasn't good," Colbert said. He and Trump are "like a couple who doesn't coordinate their lie before leaving a party," but "this morning, Trump took to Twitter to say that he and Esper are on the same page" about Soleimani's "eminent" attack. "Now, you might have noticed that Trump used the wrong word there," he said, but it turns out the threat probably wasn't "imminent," either, because Trump reportedly approved it seven months ago.
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.
Trump's "story about why he killed Soleimani isn't adding up," Trevor Noah agreed at The Daily Show, similarly vexed at Trump's evidence. "You can 'reveal' that you 'believe'? No one is asking for your personal belief. This is war, not what color you thought the dress was. And also, what does Trump mean, it could have been embassies or bases or a lot of other things, too? Because either Trump is making this up, or Soleimani was the most indecisive enemy America's ever had."
Still, "Iran's supreme leader and America's supreme tweeter are both coming under fire for lying to their people," Noah said. "The people of Iran are demanding accountability" after Tehran belatedly admitted to accidentally shooting down a passenger plane, "and last night, President Trump decided to fan those flames of protest" by sending tweets in Farsi. "It's ballsy for Trump to tweet in a second language when he hasn't even mastered his first," Noah laughed. Also, "can you imagine if Obama ever tweeted in Farsi? Can you imagine? Fox News would have exploded." Watch below. Peter Weber