It was a typical Twitter morning Friday for President Trump: He boosted a book on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and went after the media for its coverage of his silence during the “send her back” chants at his reelection rally.
But then Trump directed his ire toward an unexpected target — New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, whom the President nicknamed “the chin,” perhaps a reference to Friedman’s author photo.
Trump took issue with Friedman’s polite tone while speaking to the President on the phone recently, and the fact that Friedman went on to call the President a “racist,” among other things, in his column.
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. Two weeks ago, while speaking to a friend on his cell phone, I unfortunately ended up speaking to Friedman. We spoke for a while and…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2019
….Governor of the State did a good job. That may be true but she could not have done it without the tremendous economic success of our Country & the turnaround that my Administration has caused. Really Nasty to me in his average I.Q. Columns, kissed my a.. on the call. Phony!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2019
Friedman responded in kind later Friday morning, noting that he “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.”
Politico’s Jake Sherman reported that the “senator friend” was none other than Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
In a Twitter thread, Friedman said Trump “basically talked for four minutes” and they each went on their separate ways. He concluded:
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
