How to Lose Friends

Those that do not follow domestic news closely may have missed the coverage of United States President Donald Trump’s two-day visit to Ireland. They would do well to check out the report of the event by Rory Carroll, Ireland correspondent for The Guardian. The opening four paragraphs speak for themselves:

Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see a united Ireland and that it “may as well happen now”.

The US president appeared to endorse the push for constitutional change on the island at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland on Saturday. The unexpected intervention prompted a swift rebuttal from the UK government and Northern Ireland’s unionist leaders.

“I don’t want ⁠to cause any problems, ​but ‌I will ‌tell you, I’d love ‌to see it unified,” Trump told reporters at joint press conference with the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, in Dublin. “I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. You know what? The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.”

The unification of Northern Ireland with the republic of Ireland would be “fantastic”, Trump said. “The UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?”

I would assume that the State Department provided Trump with the necessary background to bring to his visit. I would also guess that any such information was skimmed, if it was viewed at all. Personally, my interest in the relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom go all the way back to my studies on world history in high school. Unless I am mistaken, I once applied for a teaching job at the School of Computer Science and Information Technology at University College Cork, which was a rather “remote” venue; and I was not particularly disappointed when I did not “make the cut!” Nevertheless, I would not be surprised to learn that I was more informed about the country than our President was when he set off for his visit!

This takes us back to what Trump said prior to his visit. Most likely he did not anticipate the reception he received in Dublin:

Donald Trump’s reception in Dublin (photograph by Natalia Campos for Reuters)

The image can be reinforced by the words of Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative party in the United Kingdom:

President Trump is shooting from the hip as usual, just like he did with Greenland and Canada becoming the 51st state. This sort of loose talk about the future of democratic countries is deeply unhelpful and creates unnecessary tension.

That said, what matters more is what the United States currently thinks about these matters in the context of viewpoints from Europe. While there will not be a Presidential election this year, the year still has an even number. That means that, as of this writing, there is, at least, a potential shift for change in both Houses of Congress. Those familiar with the Constitution know that there are many ways in which the Legislative branch can challenge the Executive, if not override it. As a result, whatever our feelings about Trump may be, the best course of action is to prepare for Election Day and, more importantly, prepare for the results that follow!