Chinese Dream inventor, The World is Flat author and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman has dropped his latest wisdom bomb, this time accusing US President Donald Trump of being a Chinese agent.
If you're unfamiliar with Friedman's previous work, it can be categorized as thus: commentary on geopolitics and the global economy, interspersed with observations made while sitting in the back of a taxi and sprinkled with buzzwords like "disruption" and "hyperconnected." Probably one of his most hate-read op-eds to date is a piece simply titled "Cabs, Camels or ISIS," a breathtaking 900-word analysis of the November 2015 Paris attacks.
A tl;dr version of his latest contribution: "By being terrible at environmental policy, Donald Trump is helping China win."
It's an interesting thesis to say the least, one the pundit argues with all the grace and charm of a drunken expat in the back of the bar who wants you to know just how crazy China is, man:
"The big story everyone is chasing is whether President Trump is a Russian stooge. Wrong. That’s all a smoke screen. Trump is actually a Chinese agent. He is clearly out to make China great again. Just look at the facts."
Go on, Tom. Spell "leverage" for us:
"Imagine if Trump were negotiating with China now as not only the U.S. president but also as head of a 12-nation trading bloc based on our values and interests. That’s called l-e-v-e-r-a-g-e, and Trump just threw it away … because he promised to in the campaign — without, I’d bet, ever reading the [Trans-Pacific Partnership]. What a chump! I can still hear the clinking of champagne glasses in Beijing."
Can you say "s-a-v-a-g-e?" Somebody get this guy a Pulitzer already! (Oh wait... he already has three).
Friedman goes on to argue that China is leapfrogging the US in the clean energy sector, which — all that pollution aside — is actually a fair point. As he notes, Tencent just bought a five-percent stake in Tesla on the same day that Trump "took America on a great leap backward to coal."
READ MORE: China Tells Trump Climate Change Isn't a Chinese Hoax
He finishes off the piece by reiterating that the guy who accused China of making up the "climate change hoax" is a "chump." Friedman's cab drivers may have a tough time arguing with that one.
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