Michael McFaul has once again flexed his deep understanding of the world on Twitter, this time expressing bafflement over the start of the Iranian New Year. Not everyone is on the same calendar, Mike.
Never afraid of broadcasting deep thoughts to his captivated Twitter followers, the Stanford academic found it fitting to mock Iran’s supreme leader for commenting on the start of the Iranian (or Persian) New Year, Nowruz. In his tweet, Ali Khamenei had congratulated his country for becoming more self-reliant in the face of US sanctions, but urged for further production boosts in 1399 to help the Islamic Republic recover from Washington’s economic restrictions.
According to Iran’s ancient solar calendar, the current year is 1399 – a fact which McFaul was either unaware of or found offensive to his exceptional American ways.
“Hmm? 1399 is the year of ‘Surge in Production’? I am not satisfied with our federal leadership right now, but glad this guy is not running our country,” McFaul quipped in response to Ali Khamenei’s message.
Hmm? 1399 is the year of "Surge in Production"? I am not satisfied with our federal leadership right now, but glad this guy is not running our country. https://t.co/dIQOquW63Y
McFaul then waited on the sidelines for Twitter users to applaud his massive dunk on a non-Western culture, but unfortunately commenters began to openly speculate whether the professor even knew that there are non-Gregorian calendars.
McFaul’s puzzling retort to Khamenei isn’t particularly surprising to those who are familiar with his extensive Twitter history. The much-admired intellectual powerhouse previously made it clear that he doesn’t think it’s particularly important to fact-check – or perhaps even perform a simple Google search – before posting on social media.
