Donald Trump reveals he’s even more clueless than ever
We all have been recently made aware of how thoroughly prepared Donald Trump is for his overseas excursions. By order of the president, Air Force One is supplied with the very latest in videos, magazine articles and up-to-the-minute internet reportage. The only subject of these media sources? Donald Trump. The “president” of the United States insists on spending the long, dreary flights across the Atlantic reviewing this material and boning up on his favorite subject, his boneheaded self. Consequently his aides get little sleep en route. Trump constantly wakes them up, screaming about some “fake news,” such as straight reporting about Trump’s latest tweet or personal quote.
So it should come as no surprise, when Wednesday Trump met with the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland Leo Eric Varadkar, he was unsure what country he was in.
It was the Irish press that discovered that Trump originally wanted to meet up with Varadkar at Trump’s failing golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland, but Varadkar wanted to meet at another nearby hotel. The two leaders compromised, embarrassingly, by meeting instead at the VIP lounge at the airport.
After a tedious, meandering, incoherent introduction, Trump said of Brexit, “I’m sure it’s going to work out well.” (Mr Varadkar is opposed to Brexit.) At length a member of the Irish press asked, “Is this trip for you just about promoting your golf club?” “No, this trip is really about the great relationships we have with the UK.”
There’s just one problem. The Republic of Ireland is not a member of the UK. It’s an independent sovereign nation that won its independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. But since Donald Trump doesn’t give a crap about his job, it’s easy to understand how he might have missed all that. After all, he has bigger fish to fry, like reading articles and watching videos about himself and promoting his golf course, which has never once turned a profit. Oh wait, Trump said he wasn’t there to promote his golf course. Someone must be lying. I wonder who?
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.