New York Times columnist Tom Friedman told CNN during an interview on Monday night that while communist China does some bad things, such as locking up religious minorities in concentration camps, at least they don’t have to put up with the Republican Party and fringe conspiracy theories.
Friedman made the remarks during an interview on “Cuomo Prime Time” with host Chris Cuomo in a segment that was primarily focused on the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
“But you know what I’ve been thinking about Chris, as I was listening to your show, the lead in here?” Friedman said. “I was thinking like, what are they doing in China today? You know, Chris, do you know 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.”
“I’ll tell you something they weren’t thinking about in China this week,” he continued. “They weren’t thinking about some knucklehead. They weren’t spending the week thinking about a knucklehead who claimed 911 didn’t happen. They weren’t thinking about some guy who’s a QAnon shaman? I don’t know, they were probably thinking about some bad stuff with the Uyghurs and all of that, oh for sure, but I guarantee you, they weren’t wasting their time on this nonsense.”
WATCH:
New York Times columnist @tomfriedman compliments China on their fast trains in spite of the "bad stuff with the Uyghurs" and says that America is a "deeply unserious" country pic.twitter.com/UBeVibkpuK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 9, 2021
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
TOM FRIEDMAN, NYT COLUMNIST: But you know what I’ve been thinking about Chris, as I was listening to your show, the lead in here? I was thinking like, what are they doing in China today? You know, Chris, do you know 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. I can’t 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 911 didn’t happen. They weren’t thinking about some guy who’s a QAnon shaman? I don’t know, they were probably thinking about some bad stuff with the Uyghurs and all of that, oh for sure, but I guarantee you, they weren’t wasting their time on this nonsense. And 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, okay, 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 encourage people to sack our Capitol, you have to stop and repeat that. They sacked our capital 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.