Trump’s Comments on a United Ireland: Targeting an Atlantic Audience?
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Trump’s comments on a united Ireland may have targeted an audience across the Atlantic
Image source:
Reuters
Image caption:
US President Donald Trump is visiting Ireland
By Caitriona Perry
Chief Presenter
Reporting from Dublin
Published 8 minutes ago
When another world leader meets US President Donald Trump, the only certainty about what might happen is the uncertainty about what might happen. This was exactly the case ahead of President Trump’s two-day visit to Ireland. Nobody could have predicted that by the end of the first day, the main global headline would be his desire to see a unified Ireland.
As the shockwaves of his remarks rippled through this island and Great Britain, it was unclear whether this represented a new US administration policy, or an off-the-cuff remark from a president who likes to take questions from reporters and give answers.
Image source:
Reuters
Image caption:
President Trump with the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin
Former Republican Congressman Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland in his first term in office, cautioned against anyone reading too much into the president’s remarks.
"This does not represent a shift in US foreign policy," he said.
Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle agreed.
"There is bipartisan support for that deal, and that is not going to change."
Although both agreed that Donald Trump was probably right to say that "eventually" unification would happen, that did not mean the US was about to start pushing for it.
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Figure caption:
Watch: President Trump says he would ‘love’ to see Ireland unified
Giving an answer to a question at a free-flowing press conference is one thing, but Donald Trump repeated his sentiments a short time later when he was delivering a speech to an invited audience at the US Ambassador’s residence. In fact, it was almost the first thing he mentioned, hinting that maybe he realised he had kicked over a can of worms at his earlier appearance.
The rest of that speech was curious. It was billed as a 20-minute address to Irish and Irish American business leaders, but was about twice that and strayed largely into domestic US matters.
President Trump has a speaking style he describes as "the weave". He can bounce from topic to topic during any speaking engagement, veering off the script and then returning to the matter at hand. Today he lauded his own achievements, as he sees them, such as clamping down on illegal immigration, doing deals, and boosting defence production. He repeated his criticisms once again of what he views as the UK’s lack of support for his military operation in Iran.
Image source:
Reuters
Image caption:
Donald Trump meets Irish President Catherine Connolly
Midterm elections fast approaching
But who was his target audience? The gathered business leaders in Dublin or a US audience tuning in before it was even dawn in much of that country? This November’s crunch midterm elections are fast approaching, and the Republican party is under intense pressure because of the president’s policies. They may lose control of one or both houses of Congress.
About one tenth of the US population claim Irish heritage, but they are not a homogeneous voting bloc.
Image source:
Getty Images
Image caption:
Bill Clinton
