President Trump has been operating with complete impunity and disregard for American institutions. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the Times Opinion deputy editor Patrick Healy and the columnist Thomas L. Freidman discuss the repercussions of such behavior on America’s national and international policy.
Tom Friedman: Trump Is a ‘Small Man in a Big Time’
Nearly 60 days in, the president is failing to engage in long-term thinking.Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Patrick Healy: I’m Patrick Healy, deputy editor of New York Times Opinion, and this is The First 100 Days, a weekly series examining President Trump’s use of power and his drive to change America.
This week, I wanted to talk to my colleague, Tom Friedman, about how the world we knew is being unraveled by its most powerful player, America. The American president is slapping tariffs on our friends, giving license to Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu to act with impunity and thumbing his nose at America’s judges and courts.
Tom has been the foreign affairs columnist at The Times for decades, and he has his finger on the big problems facing our country and the world. So I wanted to get Tom’s insights on how Trump is trying to reshape reality through sheer force of will.