Jon Stewart had to pull out a dictionary to disprove Donald Trump’s flagrant lies about the war in Iran.
“Look, Donald Trump is without a doubt one of the most prodigious liars this country has ever produced. He’s our Supreme Misleader,” The Daily Show host began.
Stewart pointed out Trump’s answer to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who asked the president about the U.S. plan for the war during an interview on Air Force One.
“If you obliterated their nuclear sites last summer with your strikes, then how can you argue it was an imminent threat now?” Collins asked.
Trump, 79, responded, “We hit them so hard we ‘oblitted’ them—obliterated them, but that doesn’t mean with the right equipment you can’t dig down and go get it.”
Stewart slammed the president’s response, saying, “Actually, I think it’s exactly what it means. Goddamnit. Motherf---er. It’s so annoying.”
The Daily Show host then pulled out a dictionary and his glasses, reading aloud, “‘To obliterate: to destroy completely, leaving nothing behind.’ There’s nothing in here about, ‘Well, we completely obliterated it, unless they have shovels.’”
The president had repeatedly said the U.S. strikes last summer destroyed the nuclear sites in question. Stewart played footage of these interviews, stitching together multiple interviews with Trump’s claims: “We wiped out the nuclear capability of Iran, obliterated it.” “It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before.” “I would say it’s set back permanently.” “That place is under rock.”
At the time, the White House released a statement in which Trump praised the U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran’s “key nuclear facilities.”
“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” he declared, using the word once again.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed his boss, saying, “Based on everything we have seen—and I’ve seen it all—our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons."
Stewart summarized the rhetoric of the war, saying, “the dizzying, chaotic carnival ride that is Donald Trump’s America continues to careen down s--tshow hill.”
