I've finally figured out why so many pundits and journalists are signing on to the new cold war with Russia: they weren't alive during the last one. They have no memory of the Cuban missile crisis, they didn't grow up in the era of backyard bomb shelters: for them, Fail Safe and On the Beach are just old movies.

Take Greg Sargent, an opinion columnist with the Washington Post, who was a twinkle in his parents' eyes when John F. Kennedy put American nukes in Turkey and the Russians responded by installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. So eager is he for a confrontation with Vladimir Putin that he tweeted this the other day. I responded with this. And he fired back with this – I must be a Trump supporter! As I told him, I hope he's alive after the next missile crisis with Russia – which will be coming real soon after Hillary Clinton takes office.

Or take Josh Rogin, who writes about foreign policy for the Washington Post: he's upset that Trump won't risk World War III by facing off with Putin over Ukraine. Trump must be "in lockstep with Putin." Yet Rogin didn't dispute the merits of what Trump had to say – that he'd consider recognizing the Crimean referendum – only implying that Trump was some kind of Manchurian candidate. I answered him here, and he soon fled back into the nether reaches of the Twittersphere.