President Donald Trump is insisting that he must be personally "involved" in choosing Iran's next leader, and social media users wondered exactly how that would work.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated at the start of the joint U.S.-Israeli Operation Epic Fury, and the 79-year-old president told Axios that he would not accept the assassinated supreme leader's son Mojtaba Khamenei as a replacement.
"They are wasting their time," Trump said. "Khamenei's son is a lightweight."
"I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela," he added.
Trump's demand set off speculation about his choice for Iran's postwar leader and how he would make that decision.
"Congratulations, Ayatollah Lee Greenwood," joked producer and writer Alex Gradet.
"Congratulations to future Iranian Supreme Leader Kushner," speculated political analyst Parker Molloy.
"Sounds like he’s already graduated from King of America to King of the World," opined Bluesky user The CenterTrail. "The arrogance is breathtaking!"
"Senate Republicans quietly pushing for Trump to consider Ted Cruz," laughed astronomy professor Mike Boylan-Kolchin.
"In our country, people with a similar syndrome are called 'directors of the globe' and usually spend their time in a mental institution," noted Bluesky user Pan Bloumal.
"He has no control over it," added Bluesky user Vergogna. "The protocol for the assassination of the Ayatollah has already taken care of this. This is another display of Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He needs a rubber room, not the White House.
"Among other things, it's very very funny to imagine Trump having granular knowledge and strong opinions about various obscure Iranian regime figures possibly in the running," imagined MS NOW's Chris Hayes.
"We've been through this before with the US installing the Shah," reminded X user James Flippin.
"The Iranian[s] just announced that they don’t want trump as America president and he should be removed immediately," posted X user Adel Alawi.
"Being serious for a moment, is it a bit of a tell that he’s desperate for them to appoint someone so that they can get on with cutting a deal to end it? A new Ayatollah isn’t regime change," noted podcaster Arthur Snell.
"Lovely. He couldn't pick a good candidate to run in NC senate race much less Iran," observed X user Guesserofgolf. "His entire 2nd half of this term will be dodging impeachment and doing nothing for the middle class. What a waste of opportunity."
