The Media Research Center continued to be annoyed that President Trump’s genocidal words against Iran were called out in an April 11 post by Alex Christy:
On Saturday, MS NOW host Ali Velshi welcomed Prof. Timothy Snyder to his show to discuss President Trump’s Truth Social post from earlier in the week that warned “a whole civilization will die” if Iran did not agree to a ceasefire. According to Snyder, the post could be enough to drag American service members in front of a Nuremburg-like trial on charges of genocide.
Both Velshi and Snyder admitted that they were operating on the assumption that the post itself is what mattered, not whether Trump actually meant it or was just being his usual hyperbolic self, which allowed them to dumb down the definition of genocide to the point that they rendered the word meaningless.
Christy didn’t explain why Trump’s unambiguous words shouldn’t be taken seriously or why he should get a pass for being “his usual hyperbolic self.” Instead, he continued to defend Trump while seemingly trying to justify his bombing of a school in Iran that killed dozens of students:
If Trump really wanted to commit genocide, there would be more than one school that was hit due to outdated intelligence and that used to be part of a naval base that Snyder could point to. The fact that Snyder considers destroying a bridge a war crime that could be proof of genocide should disqualify him from ever being taken seriously again. It is one thing for Velshi and Snyder to dislike Trump’s hyperbole, but anyone with any historical knowledge of previous American wars and any critical thinking skills knows Trump was not going to literally destroy a civilization even if Iran refused to accept the ceasefire offer. Those who wear the uniform deserve better than an American who ran away to Canada smearing them on TV.
Again, Christy failed to advance any meaningful argument that Trump’s genocidal words should not be taken seriously.
Mark finkelstein huffed in an April 12 post:
On Saturday evening’s The Weekend: Primetime, MS NOW gave Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) free rein to unload an anti-Trump rant without a word of pushback.
It’s considered essential MS NOW content as the Democrat called Trump a “madman,” urged his removal via the 25th Amendment, and suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had effectively maneuvered him into war with Iran. Throughout, she returned again and again to one word: “rubble.”
Six times, Dean invoked “the rubble,” at one point sounding less like a congresswoman than someone stuck in a Flintstones loop. It played like a pre-packaged line she was determined to deliver.
Dean’s suggestion that Netanyahu maneuvered Trump into war veers into a familiar and ugly trope—casting Israeli or Jewish leaders as puppet-masters pulling American strings.
Or perhaps like how Finkelstein’s employer depicted George Soros, a Jew, as a puppet master? He didn’t mention that.
Christy returned to play comedy cop in an April 14 post:
The late night comedians like to think of themselves as the kind of people who use humor to highlight the absurdities coming from President Trump, but on their Monday shows, all they ended up doing was proving their own ignorance on the matters they chose to talk about. In this case, the subject was Trump’s announcement of a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz after Saturday’s failed negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan.
CBS’s Stephen Colbert brought out his Trump voice on The Late Show when he declared, “But once word got back to Trump that there was no deal with Iran, he posted his revenge. ‘Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the finest in the world, will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.’”
CENTCOM has clarified the blockade would apply to any ship traveling to or from Iran, which makes sense. Iran was supposed to open the strait as a condition for ceasefire talks, and it has not. The Strait of Hormuz is not Iran’s private river, so if they are going to close the strait to others, it should be closed to them as well.
Nevertheless, Colbert thought it was a dumb idea, “Wait, so we’re blockading Iran’s blockade? That’s actually genius. It’s like a plumber saying, ‘You know, some guys would plunge this toilet, but I’m going to play some 12-dimensional chess and double clog it. Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re listening? Somebody get me a strong cup of coffee. I’m going in.’”
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who has a bad habit of thinking his own lack of military knowledge is somehow a dunk on Trump, huffed, “He sent JD Vance to Pakistan for talks over the weekend that completely fell apart. So, in response to those failed negotiations, Trump announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which, as you know, is already blockaded by Iran. He is establishing a blockade on a strait he wants open. And if that doesn’t work, he’s going to bomb Mar-a-Lago. So, but, two weeks ago, he was screaming, ‘Open the effing strait!’ Now he’s closing the effing strait. He can’t even keep the effing strait effing straight.”
Christy concluded by serving up a pro-Trump narrative: “Just because Colbert, Kimmel, and [Jon] Stewart do not know what they are talking about does not mean the counter-blockade is an absurd, but it would benefit hosts and audiences alike for them to do 30 seconds of basic research before embarrassing themselves on national TV.”