From Reader N:

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman is very upset with the man he calls a “chump” and “stooge” who promulgates “stupid” ideas: President Donald Trump.

But in his Wednesday column, he also threw another idea out there. As long as the media is wedded to the idea of Trump being a tool of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, then why not introduce the idea of Trump becoming a “Chinese agent”?

Trump Is a Chinese Agent
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/trump-is-a-chinese-agent.html?_r=1

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.

The renowned globalist calls Trump a “Chinese agent” because the president pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement with 11 other nations that was, in part, a hedge against China. The agreement required signatories to adhere to environmental, labor, intellectual property, and tariff agreements.

Friedman says Trump was a “chump” for getting out of TPP:

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 TPP. What a chump! I can still hear the clinking of champagne glasses in Beijing.

The New York Times reports that an independent study showed that TPP created no jobs for the United States and, in fact, may have lost jobs for the country, which is the chief reason Trump dumped it. Trump has announced that the U.S. will instead do trade deals with each nation.

The nations involved in the TPP — Vietnam, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Singapore and Canada — are all nations with which the U.S. has traded for decades, if not generations.

Friedman called Trump out for being anti-science in trying to resuscitate an industry that former President Barack Obama promised to “bankrupt" — coal:

O.K., Mr. President, let’s assume for a second that climate change is a hoax. Do you believe in math? There are now 7.5 billion people on the planet, and there will be 8.5 billion by 2030, according to the United Nations population bureau — and most will want to drive like us, eat protein like us and live in houses like us. [...]

Major cities in India and China already can’t breathe; wait for when there are another billion people.

Friedman claims that coal-dependent China is turning to electric cars and clean energy and that by reviving the coal industry, the U.S. would cease its lead in building electric cars and clean energy research and development:

So you tell me that Trump is not a Chinese agent. The only other explanation is that he’s ignorant and unread — that he’s never studied the issues or connected the dots between them — so Big Coal and Big Oil easily manipulated him into being their chump ...

The hashtag #ChineseAgent was a “thing” on Twitter before Friedman coined it, but ironically, some used it as an anti-Hillary Clinton moniker:

TRUMP RIGHT AGAIN! Hillary Clinton Is A #ChineseAgent https://t.co/sT5I8CMsJz

— I can't unsee 👀 (@noLongerAdem1) March 3, 2017

@America4Trump_ There's a reason #CrookedHillary was meeting w/#China... She's a #ChineseAgent. #NotFakeNews

— SpiritOfLiberty (@PatrioticSpirit) February 19, 2017

However, #TrumpIsAChineseAgent is catching on in hilarious fashion:

I don't believe #TrumpIsAChineseAgent pic.twitter.com/ap3aSQFXI2

— Darth VaderNo1™🌐 (@Darth_VaderNo1) March 29, 2017

Oh, boy:

#Breakingnews : Trump is a Chinese Agent and here's the proof of his contact. #trumpisachineseagent #cnn #trump #russiagate #fakenews #MAGA pic.twitter.com/VPGExQQj9B

— James Saenz-Martí (@areyouseriuosG) March 29, 2017

#trumpisachineseagenthttps://t.co/C8jcCBYoHV pic.twitter.com/qbhv3MdtCJ

— Evan Rege (@EvanRege1) March 29, 2017

#TrumpIsAChineseAgent because he is personal friends with General Tso & Kung Pao 😐

— Gods And Titans (@Gods_N_Titans) March 29, 2017

O.M.G. That must mean #TrumpIsAChineseAgent... https://t.co/13eo2wh60F

— #TrumpsWreckingBall (@JanJohnsonFL) March 29, 2017

There are those who agreed with Friedman, but some didn't understand that the columnist was being tongue-in-cheek about the actual name:

#Trump #Trumprussia #TrumpLies #trumpisachineseagent

Just trump really. An idiot & a clown. https://t.co/g5p1POFLaa

— Den Fett (@fenzilward) March 29, 2017

.@realDonaldTrump: Trump supporters fooled by sarcasm, react over "Trump is a Chinese Agent" #TrumpIsAChineseAgent. https://t.co/WfZYTEMqG5

— Chris Taylor (@FindChrisTaylor) March 29, 2017

Friedman doesn’t mention that the TPP was negotiated in part by Friedman’s choice for president, Clinton — who, in the heat of the presidential campaign, changed her mind on the deal and opposed it along with Trump and Bernie Sanders.