While there isn’t anything funny about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi the late-night comics are still finding a way to weave this serious subject into their monologues. That was the case as Stephen Colbert analyzed Evangelical leader Pat Robertson defense of the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia. Colbert said:
“Trump’s getting some criticism for his bold soft-on-murder stance, but some people still have his back, including, televangelist and human estate sale, Pat Robertson. Robertson has spent the past few days downplaying Khashoggi’s murder and prioritizing the financial benefit of siding with Saudi Arabia.”
This came after Robertson said the following during an interview:
“I just don’t think you’ve got a $100-billion worth arms sales which is, you know, that’s one of those things, but more than that we’ve got to have some Arab allies. I know it’s bad, but I mean we’ve had all kinds of stuff, but you don’t blow up an international alliance over one person.”
Colbert’s assessment was:
“Thank you, reverend, for capturing the core message of Christianity: how important can one man’s death be?”
This take was echoed on CNN, as anchor Ana Cabrera put it, “what it sounded like to me is money is more important than one man’s life.”
"That's a grotesque calculation to make," says @secupp reacting to Evangelical leader Pat Robertson's comments not to risk ties with Saudi Arabia over the death of one man.
"That's not how a minister should be talking about this," adds @VanJones68 https://t.co/UjLX8ryjmc pic.twitter.com/hACyLkc9CW
— CNN News Central (@NewsCentralCNN) October 18, 2018
Dear Pat Robertson: Remember when Jesus said it's okay to deal with murderers as long as you can make a profit? Me neither. https://t.co/QgFDPEEoQG
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) October 18, 2018
Watch what else Colbert said above.