Cuddly ayatollah: MSM calls Iran's dead terrorist kingpin 'avuncular,' 'magnanimous,' etc.

by Monica Showalter

Does the word 'avuncular' come to mind when you think of Iran's dead terrorist kingpin, Ayatollah Ali Khameini? Uncle Ali, the guy who bosses you around because he only wants what's best for you?

Nope, my first thought is: 'He won't be missed.'

But both the New York Times and the Washington Post wrote up his obituary that way, according to Fox News, using that exact word 'avuncular' along with a slew of other positives, such as 'magnanimous' and a man with an 'easy smile,' kind of like the man in the news who unfortunately was hit by a car.

To wit:

The New York Times' headline about the Khamenei's death read, "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power, Is Dead at 86." The Times also described the supreme leader as "avuncular and magnanimous" in its obituary. 

"With his spectacles, Palestinian kaffiyeh, long robes and silver beard, Ayatollah Khamenei cast himself as a religious scholar as well as a writer and translator of works on Islam. He affected an avuncular and magnanimous aloofness, running the country from a perch above the jousting of daily politics," the NYT's obituary read.

The Washington Post, which once characterized another prominent dead terrorist kingpin as 'an austere religious scholar' was no better. Here's what Fox News reported they said:

"With his bushy white beard and easy smile, Ayatollah Khamenei cut a more avuncular figure in public than his perpetually scowling but much more revered mentor, and he was known to be fond of Persian poetry and classic Western novels, especially Victor Hugo’s 'Les Misérables.' But like the uncompromising Khomeini, he opposed moderates’ efforts to promote political and social reforms domestically and to secure rapprochement with the United States," the Post's obituary of the supreme leader said. 

Let's just say 'retch.' 

Khameini was better described by President Trump, who called him "one of the most evil men in history." He later added: "I got him before he got me. They tried twice." which tells the story better, given that Khameini sent out a nest of killers to assassinate the president of the United States, on more than one occasion.

Now I'm sure he projected a gentle image -- for the press, knowing how willing they were to carry his water.

But his legacy is one of machine-gun massacres, torture prisons, dead men hanging from cranes, and dirty-necked galoots going around with whips to beat women for not wearing enough veil in public.

When President Trump was banned from Twitter in 2021 by its then-leftist wokesters running it, Congress put out a report on it, noting that Khameini tweeted: "#Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen" without consequences, presumably because he says that kind of thing all the time, or they didn't mind.

The bottom line here is that the guy was a toad, a thug, a thief, and a destroyer of one of the world's great civilizations, turning it into a place where millions seek to emigrate. He's more like El Mencho than anyone's favorite uncle. If he wanted to play 'cuddly' and avuncular for the press, that's on them for believing it. 

His record tells another story, and many were right to call it out on social media and beyond.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/cuddly_ayatollah_msm_calls_iran_s_dead_terrorist_kingpin_avuncular_magnanimous_etc.html