There’s only one standard at MSNBC: You can shill for dictators and make all the factual errors you want, but if the end result is you slapping at Donald Trump, then it’s all good.

We saw that on full display this weekend via Joy Reid’s show. That’d be the same Joy Reid who lied about being hacked to cover for homophobic comments, lied about the FBI investigating said fake hack, and then proceeded to have absolutely no disciplinary taken action against her. Journalism and all that.

This week AM Joy turned a hackery double play by hosting Iranian backed propagandist Trita Parsi and noted grifter Malcolm Nance, who fancies himself an expert on terrorism and Russia (he was once a cryptologist in the Navy nearly 20 years ago, otherwise he has no actual background in those areas). The topic was Iran and level-headed analysis was in short supply.

Nance sounded off by painting Iran as some kind of super-state, capable of destroying U.S. forces and bombing every major military target in the Gulf region.

.@MalcolmNance: [Iran] will launch every ballistic missile they have into the Saudi oil fields. They will bomb every base that's along the coast or anywhere within their range. They will use their one million man commando force… #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/HtvdNWey4e — AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) May 19, 2019

For starters, Iran doesn’t have a “one million man commando force.” They have the revolutionary guard, which is about 120,000 strong and full of averagely trained, under-equipped soldiers. As to the idea that they’d bomb targets at will, the Iranian Air Force is antiquated, consisting of ancient F-4 Phantoms, early F-14A models, and F-5s. The most modern aircraft in their inventory are the 20 or so 1980s era Mig-29s. Their ballistic missile inventory would be the biggest threat they could yield. It still wouldn’t result in what Nance says here.

The USAF would destroy every plane they put in the air within the span of a few hours if conflict broke out. That’s not even debatable. Nance’s assertions are so devoid of fact as to border on parody. Yet, MSNBC hosts him as an “expert” on matters of war.

Then we get to Trita Parsi.

Parsi is the founder of the “National Iranian American Council,” which is essentially an Iranian mouthpiece that lobbies for their interests in Washington. He’s also a big fluffer of Qatar in American media.

.@tparsi: The Iranians have prepared for more than 30 years to fight the U.S. unconventionally, asymmetrically, in case the U.S. invades. … #Trump saw based on the intelligence that Iran was absolutely ready to fight back and defend itself if the U.S. attacked. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/yuTMnTKJcZ — AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) May 19, 2019

The dynamics are, of course, complicated, by Parsi’s representation of the Iranian people as a united front protecting the Mullahs which doesn’t really match reality. The Islamic regime is deeply unpopular with the people and the country itself has deep strains of secularism within the government-mandated Islamism (far more than Iraq had). Painting Trump as fearful of the mighty Iranian war machine is laughable bluster.

Here are a few more tweets that will give you a better idea of the kind of actor Parsi is.

These Iranians sitting safely in exile, applauding Trump's threats to end Iran are like the inhabitants of King's Landing applauding Daenerys as she torched the city cuz of their hatred of Cersei. Actually, none applauded her. Those who loved the people urged her NOT to attack. — Trita Parsi (@tparsi) May 19, 2019

By now, you should've learned that making genocidal threats won't make Iran budge. If you want peace, prepare a serious strategy for diplomacy: Step 1: Fire Bolton

Step 2: Respect the JCPOA, i.e. lift sanctions

Step 3: Drop all preconditions

Step 4: Adopt respectful rhetoric — Trita Parsi (@tparsi) May 19, 2019

Oh, all we have to do is to lift all sanctions, drop all preconditions, and let Iran do whatever the hell they want? Well, why didn’t you just say so? Parsi carries himself with all the trademarks of your typical unregistered foreign agent but MSNBC invites him on to bash the current administration and propagate talking points straight from the Mullahs.

What we’ve seen from the media the past week regarding Iran is a pathetic testament to just how far they are willing to go to oppose Trump. Bringing on people to repeat Iranian propaganda and muse on the destruction of U.S. military forces, all while couching them as experts, is well below any standard of real journalism. It’s also ill-informed garbage from a technical standpoint.

I’ll end with a disclaimer. No one should take me pointing this out as an endorsement of war with Iran. I do not think we are going to attack Iran nor do I think we should. Regardless, I can recognize that the Iranians are no match for the U.S. military and that it’s gross to see mainstream media outlets turn themselves into Iranian/Qatari mouthpieces. The issue with Iran wouldn’t be the initial conflict. It’d be what comes later that poses the greatest challenge, as we’ve learned from experience. People that want to make the argument on those grounds are well within logical bounds to do so and I’d probably agree.

Just don’t gaslight me about Iran destroying every base in the Gulf and the scariness of their “one million man commando force” like you are freaking Baghdad Bob.

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