It's the Star Wars bar of extremists and nut cases

Thomas Friedman, columnist at The New York Times (whom I seldom read), answering a question posed on Quora: "Did Thomas Friedman’s opinion of President Elect Trump change after meeting him in person?"

I spent eighteen months doing everything I could to prevent Trump from being elected. I thought he lacked the knowledge, the temperament, and the character to be President of the United States, but I always took him seriously. My last column before the election was actually an appeal to his voters.



Now he's going to be president, and what I learned at the meeting was a lot about the people he's surrounded himself with. Because no one thought he was going to win for fifteen months, he could only attract extremists and goofballs. Now that he's won you realize he's been talking to Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, and the Mike Flynns of the world. It's the Star Wars bar of extremists and nut cases. But now we are all on the “Good Ship Lollipop” and he's the captain. My first column after the election —after taking in the idea that he was President— was a memo to him and on the question of climate change, which I think is very important.

While I spent the last fifteen months hoping he wouldn't win, and I'll spend the next four years on the barricades, while he is still in this plastic phase, appointing people —and he's made some decent appointments like General Mattis— I think you have to engage him, so I'm encouraging everyone to engage him. You cannot underestimate how much he's been living in a bubble talking to the Rudy Giulianis of the world.