If we are who we associate with, what a comfort it must be to hear our president refer to Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in such endearing terms.

“We have a great friendship, as countries and I think we’re right now as close as we’ve ever been,” Trump said, according to pool reports. His comments come a day after delivering his first address before the United Nations General Assembly. Trump went on to say that Erdogan is “running a very difficult part of the world. He has evolved very strongly, and frankly he’s getting very high marks.”

But what about the ratings? Does he have a strong following on Twitter?

Reportedly, Trump called Erdogan last week to apologize to him for the indignity of having his bodyguards come on American soil and batter U.S. protesters in May.

Nine American citizens were injured as a result, but, hey… Erdogan is A-OK with Trump.

Erdogan was back in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, this week, and once again, violence erupted.

As protesters shouted down Erdogan (something I absolutely loathe, by the way), his security detail stepped in.

1. Yet again, Erdogan's security detail beats up American protesters. It appears he has given the orders directly pic.twitter.com/TofzV9vi9v — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 21, 2017

2. Clip from another angle, notice how Erdogan's bodyguard punches the American protester in the face as he's being led out? All in NYC. pic.twitter.com/q035nt8Ah4 — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 21, 2017

3. All in NYC…another angle, Erdogan's bodyguards beating up American protesters. pic.twitter.com/72RgFZDOJS — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 21, 2017

4. More Erdogan bodyguard thuggery against Americans in NYC. In this clip an American says "get out of our country" pic.twitter.com/OgKevittF7 — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 21, 2017

While we may have our opinions about those who disrupt the exercise of free speech in this country, at no point should violence against protesters be condoned.