Anytime someone tells me that the American media are a integral part of the strength of the republic I know I’m dealing with someone who has just awakened from a coma with complete amnesia–or a reporter. The history of the US media embracing virtually any totalitarian regime in preference to pressing American ideals and principles dates, at least, back to Walter Duranty receiving a Pulitizer Prise for repackaging Stalinist propaganda as news. Throughout the Cold War, the leading edge of Soviet influence in America was in the press. It was the press who painted Reagan as a wild-eyed cowboy sure to lead us to war. It was the press that pimped the AsttoTruf “nuclear freeze” movement that tried to make unilateral nuclear disarmament a real thing. Remember the way the US media treated Mikhail Gorbachev as the Risen Christ while forgetting that the only reason he was negotiating was that Reagan–and Pope Saint John Paul II–had brought the Soviet Union to its knees.

Now that North Korea is on the ropes, the US media is beginning to object to sanctions hurting “ordinary” North Koreans (the technical term for these people is “supporters of the Kim Jong Un regime” because the non-supporters are in death camps and they can’t tell there are sanctions in place). With the participation of North Korea in the Winter Olympics (I’m actually very much in favor of this because I think the short term propaganda effect is going to be more than offset by difficulties it will cause in the long run) US media have found a new totalitarian regime to lionize.

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/962351953576693760

Here’s a look at one of the cheers being led by North Korean Cheerleaders at the 🇰🇷🇰🇵🇨🇭 hockey match. #Olympics2018 pic.twitter.com/a6qAwoRim6

— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) February 10, 2018

Wait for it…. one of the stranger moments of the night… North Korean Cheerleaders holding masks as they sing “Whistle” one of North Korea’s most popular songs. #Olympics2018 (Via @Kubik_Kamera) pic.twitter.com/BXACRt27nZ

— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) February 10, 2018

But this is the best via the Washington Post’s Philip Bump.

https://twitter.com/pbump/status/962152607350444033

https://twitter.com/ProperOpinion/status/962201541183721473

Keep in mind this woman is the pampered product of a murderous regime that kills with impunity. Her brother ordered the murder of her half-brother in Malaysia a year ago. The murder was carried out using nerve agent in an airport. The nation of which she is part of the ruling kleptocracy kills and starves its own citizens. It murdered a US student. I is openly threatening to nuke and American city. But she is just sooooo damn cool because she seems to show disrespect for Mike Pence…behind his back.

Are these people regressing to middle school? Did they ever leave?

Oddly enough, it is left to the epic parody site, @DPRKNews, to tell us what the US media are celebrating. Read the whole thread.

https://twitter.com/DPRK_News/status/962371673596088320

Sorry, sister, you can't have this guy killed. https://t.co/b8uZ9rqoIK

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 10, 2018

Actually, it's OK to root for any American leader against the likes of the North Korean regime. https://t.co/iuORACkXZG

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 10, 2018