Breaking The Ratings - Updated

That middle-of-the-night "look how great I am" pageant Trump staged at Joint Base Andrews last night? Don't misunderstand. It wasn't for the hostages' benefit:

The White House carefully choreographed the event, hoisting a giant American flag between two fire trucks on the tarmac and inviting reporters to witness the return.

The image-conscious president told reporters, “I think you probably broke the all-time-in-history television rating for 3 o’clock in the morning.”

...The highly public and politically tinged display stood in stark contrast to the low-key and very private reception that the State Department had envisioned and carried out from the moment it took custody of the men, in keeping with a tradition of trying to protect potentially traumatized victims from being thrust into the spotlight so soon after their ordeal.

Department officials took great pains on the prisoners’ release in North Korea, as well as on their flights to Japan and Alaska, to keep them sequestered not only from the two journalists traveling with Pompeo but also from staffers not immediately involved in their cases. The trio, along with medical personnel that included a psychiatrist, were cloistered in the middle of Pompeo’s plane in a small section of 12 business class-size seats that was cordoned off by curtains on both ends. From an AP article, read it here. 

Thursday night update: Washington Post reporter Carol Morello was one of two reporters who accompanied secretary of state Mike Pompeo to North Korea. Her write-up of the trip is fascinating, you can read it here. For me, one paragraph stood out:

We were warned we couldn’t speak to the prisoners once they came aboard to fly to freedom, or even watch from a short distance. Pompeo was adamant that their privacy would not be invaded.

"Their privacy would not be invaded"? Really? I wonder how the secretary felt about the garish and well-lit ceremony they landed into at Andrews.