As Twitchy reported, CNN on Saturday was slammed by everyone ranging from Brit Hume to Garry Kasparov to Jonathan Chait for its puff-piece on Kim Jong Un’s sister “stealing the show” at the Winter Olympics.
Also responding to that tweet, but from the opposite angle, was New Republic senior editor Jeet Heer, who tweeted, “Do you realize how massively you have to fuck up so that Kim Jong Un’s family looks good by comparison? But Trump and Pence have pulled it off.”
Heer apparently thought people were being “willfully obtuse” in interpreting his tweet, so he deleted it and attempted to spell out, slowly, his take on North Korea’s charm offensive. Hang in there with us for a little bit:
1. Since people are being willfully obtuse in interpreting this tweet, I'm going to delete and spell out, slowly, why North Korean charm offensive is surprisingly successful. pic.twitter.com/io7hN1PuXw
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
2. South Korea is unusually close ally to USA. More than an ally: they owe their very national survival to USA. Yet a rift has opened up between USA & South Korea. Why?
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
3. If USA is South Korea's most important ally, North Korea has been an existential threat for 7 decades. Yet during Olympics North's "charm offensive" is gaining real traction.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
With CNN, maybe.
4. Is North Korea a Stalinist hell-hole & threat to world? Sure. You know who knows that more than anyone? The South Koreans. They're more likely to be killed by North than anyone, have had citizens kidnapped, etc.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
5. Yet if the South Koreans know Kim Jong Un's regime is vile & USA is key to their national survival, why is , Kim Yo Jong receiving a warm welcome even as SK gov't opening a rift with Trump administration?
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
6. Obvious problem is Trump's nuclear bluster ("fire & fury" Rocketman on a suicide mission). But the problem goes beyond that. Trump administration explicit policy is devaluing South Korean lives.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
Trump’s “explicit policy is devaluing South Korean lives.” Hang on a bit longer …
7. CIA director Mike Pompeo told Fox News that “this administration is prepared to do what it takes to ensure that people in Los Angeles and Denver and New York aren’t held at risk from Kim Jong-un having a nuclear weapon"
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
8. What Pompeo is saying is that the "risk" that USA lives as risk is so intolerable USA is willing to launch a war that will almost certainly kill tens of thousands of South Koreans (and Japanese).
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
9. In the words of Victor Cha, originally on track to be Trump's ambassador to South: "Some have argued the risks are still worth taking because it’s better that people die 'over there' than 'over here.'"
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
10. Trump's policy is very much an American First one: American lives worth more than Korean ones. Morality aside, why would South Koreans accept that logic?
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
Ugh, there’s more. People must have really misinterpreted that first tweet.
11. Aside from nuclear bluster, there's the behavior of Mike Pence, refusing to stand for Korean team. https://t.co/XjEyDPGF8r
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
12. This is hard for nationalists to understand but other nation's have their pride. The Olympics is a big deal in South Korea. It's a chance to showcase their nation. And Pence refused to honor that.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
13. What's interesting here is how much in denial Americans are about the rift with South Korea. Not just Trumpists but centrists and liberals. Even though the evidence is in front of us: https://t.co/PHF3CoI4u1
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
14. In short: America is alienating an important ally & a Stalinist hellhole is winning a propaganda victory. But Americans (including centrists & liberals) don't understand this because they can't imagine viewing world from South Korean eyes.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 11, 2018
“A Stalinist hellhole is winning a propaganda victory?” Um, no, not at all, but someone really ought to tell NBC and CNN that.
Yes please continue to dig https://t.co/9jQ0OeVHly
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) February 11, 2018
He's bringing in a backhoe. RT @redsteeze: Yes please continue to dig https://t.co/FdTQTEJsQt
— Matthew Hoy (@hoystory) February 11, 2018
All you’re explaining here is why it worked on you. https://t.co/mH0ZRNHLx5
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) February 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/stinson/status/962483320746598400
In which you can’t explain how the Kim family looks better by comparison. Ok. https://t.co/mdUuoFRbuG
— Vanessa (@NessaAdelaide) February 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/962485572630609921
As usual, liberal exaggerates to clarify. https://t.co/vHhpOI8y0P
— Chrìstορhεr (@cdwillett66) February 11, 2018
Dude, put down the shovel. https://t.co/0tEjKhU2a5
— Beebo (@beebobaby) February 11, 2018
There is no NK charm offensive without the help of @CNN , you and the rest of the morons leading it. https://t.co/0tEjKhU2a5
— Beebo (@beebobaby) February 11, 2018
If people were wrong about your tweet then why would you delete it (and then Jeet-splain us with a thread ?)? https://t.co/byq4eOVXXH
— uber Alice, California. (@astromarko) February 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/joedah87/status/962487594847277056
https://twitter.com/Brennan/status/962478267931480065
In which Jeet assumes the South Koreans are as willfully obtuse as he is to be fooled by North Korean "diplomacy" https://t.co/oCKWOs8qTO
— bropundit (@bropundit) February 11, 2018
"People are dragging me for saying exactly what I thought, so now I'll cover by calling them stupid." https://t.co/1QyumBj239
— Anti-Smatter (@mdrache) February 11, 2018
You can never save yourself from this massive pile you excreted out of your mind onto Twitter. https://t.co/KiNuybPisK
— Ryan B. Leslie (@RyanBLeslie) February 11, 2018
Walter Duranty would be proud @HeerJeet. https://t.co/3PL85SMLV9
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) February 11, 2018
It really is amazing how Progressives so afraid of Trump are jumping on the train of a literal dictator who kills dissidents. At least Jeet is in the glorious leader's good graces. https://t.co/s6LlkLefrW
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) February 11, 2018
https://twitter.com/AJMarbukh/status/962478288387092480
Related:
CNN getting DESTROYED from all sides over its puff-piece on Kim Jong Un’s sister
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