New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman publicly praised China and dissed Republicans and the United States as “deeply unserious” on CNN’s Monday evening programming.
Friedman opened his segment with Chris Cuomo by praising China’s transportation abilities and complaining that trains in the United States take far longer than the communist nation’s bullet trains. “I was thinking, like, ‘What are they doing in China today?’ Do you know, Chris, that it takes four hours and 18 minutes to take the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, and it takes 21 hours to take the train from New York to Chicago, and they’re both about the same distance?” Friedman said, as Cuomo nodded along.
This is problematic, the columnist said, because it shows that China isn’t focused on “nonsense” such as conspiracy theories.
“I’ll tell you something they weren’t thinking about in China this week. They weren’t thinking about some knucklehead. They weren’t spending the week thinking about a knucklehead who claimed 9/11 didn’t happen. They weren’t thinking about some guy who’s a QAnon shaman,” Friedman said. “I don’t know, they were probably thinking about some bad stuff with the Uighurs and all of that, for sure, but I guarantee they weren’t wasting their time on this nonsense.”
Friedman continued his argument, quipping that the United States is a “deeply unserious” country and that he feels like Republicans and former President Donald Trump are to blame.
“How do we do this week after week, month after month, and think we are a serious country? We are so deeply unserious as a country right now. And we need to put this crap behind us — OK? — and get focused on the future because right now we are going to be falling farther and farther behind. And that’s what’s really on my mind, and that’s why I am praying for Joe Biden, because I think he’s a serious guy. He’s trying to do the right thing, and I think he is cursed by a Republican Party that is chasing a madman who actually encouraged people to sack our Capitol,” Friedman said. “You have to stop and repeat that. They sacked our Capitol on the basis of a big lie. And now a Republican majority is going to sit on their hands and be just fine with that. Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame on them.”
Cuomo endorsed this perspective from Friedman, declaring, “I can add nothing.”
