President Trump executed deadly military strikes in Iran this week, seemingly declaring war despite not actually having the power to unilaterally do so. The operation was title “Epic Fury,” but Stephen Colbert has an idea of the real name.
“Fun fact: Epic Fury is an anagram for Forget Epstein,” the CBS host joked to kick off his monologue on Monday night.
Colbert then got into his monologue in earnest, picking apart the decision. But first, he marveled at the irony of discussing a similar situation as when he first started his run as “The Late Show” host. According to the host, an open-ended war with no defined plan or exit strategy is “where I got on this train.”
“Now, say what you want about George W, Bush and I did! OK?” Colbert joked. “He sold! That guy went out there, he sold his Middle East war. That’s what the W stood for: Middle East. He was not a smart man. He went to the UN, he went to Congress, he gave speeches for a year leading up to it.”
“Compare that to the present POTUS. Six days ago, he gave what is officially the longest State of the Union address of all time, and the subject of Iran was a drive by in a 2-hour speech,” Colbert added. “He gave it three minutes. The man’s had longer farts!”
As his monologue continued, Colbert poked at the president’s ever-changing reasoning for the attacks, and was particularly bothered by Trump justifying the strikes by saying that the United States “was very nearly under threat.”
“Very nearly under threat is very nearly a good reason to send our troops into harm’s way,” Colbert said seriously. “Tragically, six American service members have already died in his war. That sacrifice, and any sacrifices to come — any loss of civilian life, for that matter — deserve, at the very least, clarity from our leaders as to why that sacrifice is being asked.”
You can watch Stephen Colbert’s monologue in the video above.
