Yesterday, for the first time in eight years, Iran’s Supreme Leader,
80 year old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a sermon during Friday prayers.
He staunchly defended his murderous former Quds Force General, Qasem Soleimani, as his adoring followers chanted “Death to America!”
After his government reluctantly admitted that its military shot down a Ukrainian Airlines aircraft, with disastrous consequences, after initially denying it, massive crowds in Teheran called for their Supreme Leader to resign, so it’s no wonder that he’s now lashed out, as usual, against the United States.
It was our Chief International Correspondent, associate solitary reporter Larry Theis, who is fluent in Persian, who translated the Ayatollah’s sermon.
One aspect of his sermon struck ASR Theis in particular: Khamenei called Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “clowns" who want nothing better than to thrust daggers into the hearts of the Iranian people, while they hypocritcally say that they have the best interests of the Iranian people at heart (https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/middleeast/iran-supreme-leader-friday-prayers-intl/index.html).
So it should come as no surprise that Theis is the one who spoke privately with Khamenei and urged him to invite Trump and Pompeo to Teheran.
“We’ll give those clowns a hotter welcome than they would expect at any Trump resort,” the Ayatollah told Theis. "We'll make them totally accountable to us!"
Speaking of accountability, the independent Government Accountability Office said yesterday that Trump broke the law by withholding Congressionally approved military aid from Ukraine.
But of course, this is not news to AP fans, because they, and we, have always known that Trump thinks he’s not accountable to anyone.
In other news, Trump announced today, with his typically over the top grandiosity, that he’s brought in top Clinton Impeachment Prosecutor Ken Starr, a darling of the Right, as well as aged and always cantankerous criminal defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz, to represent him when his impeachment trial starts on Tuesday.
Dershowitz, especially, is just as much Mr. Showboat as Trump.
That’s what Trump wants: a TV High Drama.
And — as for Ken Starr — we saved the best for last: who better than Monica Lewinsky to express her opinion on the appointment of Starr, the independent prosecutor who used her — unsuccessfully — as his chief witness against President Clinton:
When told that Trump picked Starr to represent him, Lewinsky said “...are you f—ing kidding me?” (https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/politics/monica-lewinsky-ken-starr-senate/index.html)?