Watch: American late show hosts have a field day with Trump's all caps threat to Iranian president
Several of them asked whether Trump’s tweet was aimed to distract people from issues like Russian collusion and family separation.
US President Donald Trump’s tirade – read: tantrum – against the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (below) became the fodder of many memes and jokes on the internet immediately after Trump wrote it. Naturally, hosts of late night TV shows jumped right in, starting with Stephen Colbert, who has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of the Trump administration.
He parodied the president’s vitriolic threat and said it did not seem like the best mode to establish diplomatic communication – or any kind of communication for that matter. “It seems like an all-caps note is not necessarily the way to deal with a hostile foreign leader. It’s barely the way to deal with a co-worker who keeps stealing your yogurt from the fridge,” he said.
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Jimmy Kimmel, on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! used the tweet – which has now become a meme template – to threaten the President himself. He also asked whether Trump was trying to divert the attention from news about collusion with Russia. His monologue also involved a hilarious interview with “Trump’s thumbs.”
In a segment of his show, A Closer Look, Seth Meyers called out the President’s attempt to distract the conversation from issues plaguing his administration.
Trevor Noah, meanwhile, quipped, “Remember, this is the same way he tweeted ‘fire and fury’ on North Korea and six months later totally caved to Kim Jong-un.”