Stephen Colbert praises Trump on Iran and mocks Jared Kushner on immigration

Stephen Colbert found himself giving President Donald Trump credit for his approach to Iran.

Fans who watched The Late Show on Thursday may have seen a first in the show’s history: Stephen Colbert expressing gratitude that Donald Trump is the president. Colbert followed that up with getting back to basics and mocking Jared Kushner.

Colbert’s rare compliment of President Trump came during his breakdown of the White House’s discussions over Iran. While some in his administration seem to be exploring military intervention, President Trump reportedly favors a diplomatic approach.

To say that Colbert was shocked by this news would be something of an understatement. After all, The Late Show host has been keeping a running list of reasons why he thinks Trump is a terrible president.

So while Colbert may have taken a night off from criticizing President Trump exclusively (sort of), that didn’t mean the rest of the White House got a pass. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and security adviser John Bolton were the comedian’s targets when it came to Iran. Then shifting to the topic of immigration, Colbert focused on Trump’s adviser/son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Maybe President Trump’s call for late night television to be less one-sided finally got through to Stephen Colbert? Or maybe the bar has been set so low that not starting a war with Iran over questionable intelligence just looks like a brilliant display of leadership.

However, Colbert does look like he spoke too soon in expressing thanks for Trump’s presidency. A clip of the president responding “I hope not” when asked if we were headed for war with Iran didn’t do much to cement Colbert’s confidence in Trump.

Colbert revealed he has even less confidence in Jared Kushner’s leadership on immigration reform. Kushner’s merit-based plan was described as “underwhelming” by some Republican senators.

The irony of Kushner suggesting a system that doesn’t reward immigrants for the status of their family members wasn’t lost on Stephen Colbert. Either Kushner didn’t realize the similarities to himself or simply didn’t care.

We know that President Donald Trump pays attention to late night television. So there is a good chance he was happy to hear Stephen Colbert finally give him credit. Jared Kusher, on the other hand, probably should skip catching up on last night’s Late Show.