Thomas Friedman Responds to Trump By Detailing Call: You Are Tearing the Country Apart
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has responded to President Donald Trump’s Twitter attacks on him Friday morning with his account of the phone call where Trump claimed Friedman “kissed his ass.”
“For me, it is always about what is best for America – the country that I love and that you are now tearing apart,” Friedman tweeted directed at the president.
Friedman claimed that an unnamed Republican senator requested he speak to the president. “I was asked to speak to you by your Senator friend, who said you were upset at the criticism you were getting from the Wall Street Journal and some other conservatives for not bombing Iran in retaliation for Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone.”
Trump claimed earlier that two weeks ago he had “unfortunately ended up speaking to Friedman” on accident. “Thomas ‘the Chin’ Friedman, a weak and pathetic sort of guy, writes columns for The New York Times in between rounds of his favorite game, golf,” said the president, saying that when he spoke to Friedman he “could not have been nicer or more respectful.”
“I try to be respectful even with people I disagree with,” Friedman said in defense. “I do this because I hope it will increase the chances that they listen to me. You should try it.”
Trump was angry about a column Friedman published about him this week entitled, “Trump’s Going to Get Re-elected, Isn’t He?” He called Trump a “racist, divisive, climate-change-denying, woman-abusing jerk” in the column.
Friedman said he began the conversation with, “Mr. President, you know that I disagree with you on many things but you were right not to bomb Iran.”
Friedman then said he has not hesitated to criticize the president when he is “dividing our country, alienating America’s closest allies and giving succor to racists and bigots everywhere.”
But on policies such as confronting China’s abusive trade policies and not going to war with Iran, Friedman says he has publicly supported the president.
View Friedman’s full response below:
Mr. President, You are right, unlike you, I am always respectful — especially when I talk to the President of the United States at the request of a U.S. Senator in your party. I try to be respectful even with people I disagree with.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
I do this because I hope it will increase the chances that they listen to me.
You should try it.— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
But I also always adhere to the facts: I was asked to speak to you by your Senator friend, who said you were upset at the criticism you were getting from the Wall Street Journal and some other conservatives for not bombing Iran in retaliation for Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
And here is exactly how I began our conversation, precisely because I did not trust what you would do with it: “Mr. President, you know that I disagree with you on many things but you were right not to bomb Iran.’’
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
You then basically talked for four minutes. I interjected a few things on China policy, said thank you, and we went our respective ways.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
Since you are clearly a reader of my column, you know that from the day you announced your candidacy, I have not hesitated to criticize you when I have seen you dividing our country, alienating America’s closest allies and giving succor to racists and bigots everywhere.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
And you also know that on issues where I thought you were serving the American interest – like confronting China’s most abusive trade practices or not going to war with Iran – I have not hesitated to support your polices, very publicly. I will continue to do both.
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
For me it is always about what is best for America – the country that I love and that you are now tearing apart.
Respectfully yours, Tom Friedman
— Thomas L. Friedman (@tomfriedman) July 19, 2019
[Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images]
