The media may have left its heart in San Francisco, but it lost its mind in Helsinki.

The varied accusations of treason all hinge on Trump not being sufficiently critical of Russia. Meanwhile Obama had delivered a speech in South Africa which was widely praised for its supposed covert attacks on Trump. But here’s a part of the speech that the media chose not to emphasize because it would only reveal the double standard of Russiagate.

“Which is why, at the end of the 20th century, while some Western commentators were declaring the end of history and the inevitable triumph of liberal democracy and the virtues of the global supply chain, so many missed signs of a brewing backlash – a backlash that arrived in so many forms,” Obama says. Then he goes on to list various examples of the backlash to modernity.

They include Islamic terrorism… and Russia.

“Russia, already humiliated by its reduced influence since the collapse of the Soviet Union, feeling threatened by democratic movements along its borders, suddenly started reasserting authoritarian control and in some cases meddling with its neighbors,” Obama says.

Note the emphasis.

Obama describes the invasion of Ukraine as “meddling”. (He has a history of such minimalist rhetoric, including describing ISIS as a jayvee team.). All of it is a reaction, not an action. Russia was humiliated. (Also a term often applied to excuse Islamic terrorism.) It was reacting to the modern liberal order and is therefore more of a victim. The problem is capitalism and income inequality.

That’s the larger theme of Obama’s speech. Totalitarian countries are really the victims of the same progressive countries that he praises. Wealth must be shared. Economic prosperity must be equalized.

As I discuss in tomorrow’s article, this goes back to Obama’s first meeting with Putin back in ‘09. Putin spent an hour blasting the United States. And Obama sat there and took it.

And the media chooses to ignore Obama’s rhetoric on Russia even as it nitpicks everything Trump said in Helsinki.