As the bowl of traditional shamrock is prepared to be handed over to Trump, the bodies of countless Palestinians killed during US sanctioned Israeli bombings, during what Trump calls a ‘ceasefire’ brokered by him, are conveniently forgotten.
Despite the fact that last year Donald Trump insulted the two leaders of Irish constitutional politics by not inviting them for the customary lunch at the White House they appear hell bent on giving him the chance to repeat the belittling. Last year Trump invited former Mixed Martial Arts and fellow rapist, Conor McGregor, to luncheon with him. No doubt the two perverts had much to discuss, and it will be interesting to see who he invites this year.
Let’s get one thing straight, as far as Ireland is concerned, Trump is not Joe Biden who really absorbed the Saint Patricks Day celebrations, neither is he Barack Obama who also enjoyed the festivities, as did Bill Clinton. No, Trump only likes celebrating himself and bombing smaller defenceless countries like Venezuela whose oil he will half inch (pinch, steal). More recently the administration led by Donald Trump in the US has stooped to new depths when on Trumps social media site an image of former President, Barrack Obama, and his wife, Michelle, superimposed as ‘apes’ was uploaded for the world to see. This act really shows the administration up for what it is, racist, imperialist, dictatorial and above all else, immoral. Yet the leaders of the Twenty-Six-County government insist on visiting him even though Trump has no interest in the audience at all! It is called going through the motions!!
The depiction of the former President and his First Lady as ‘apes’ is as racist as anything Adolf Hitler used to describe Jewish people back in the days of the Nazi regime. Would the two Irish political leaders, knowing the persecution suffered by socialists, communists, trade unionists and, above all, Jewish people have visited Hitler in Berlin? Would they have used trade and ‘jobs’ to placate or even cultivate the tyrant? A hypothetical question and one which of course cannot be answered but the point is the similarities between Trump and Hitler. The difference between the two is one of extremities but principally they are pretty similar, both are/were power crazy, racist, narcissists, and bullies. Who knows how far Trump would go but for the, albeit inadequate, checks and balances in the US which Hitler in Germany dismantled when they got in his way. On that subject has it gone unnoticed the said checks and balances in the USA are being gradually eroded by the Trump administration?
The depiction of the former President and his First Lady as ‘apes’ is as racist as anything Adolf Hitler used to describe Jewish people back in the days of the Nazi regime. Would the two Irish political leaders, knowing the persecution suffered by socialists, communists, trade unionists and, above all, Jewish people have visited Hitler in Berlin? Would they have used trade and ‘jobs’ to placate or even cultivate the tyrant? A hypothetical question and one which of course cannot be answered but the point is the similarities between Trump and Hitler. The difference between the two is one of extremities but principally they are pretty similar, both are/were power crazy, racist, narcissists, and bullies. Who knows how far Trump would go but for the, albeit inadequate, checks and balances in the US which Hitler in Germany dismantled when they got in his way. On that subject has it gone unnoticed the said checks and balances in the USA are being gradually eroded by the Trump administration?
The Trump government has, on home soil, overseen their Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents gun down unarmed protestors in Minneapolis. These protestors were guilty of nothing more than voicing their opposition to Tumps racist immigration laws. Apparently, such protests are no longer tolerated in Trumps USA. The Trump administration tried to claim one gunned down protestor, ICU Nurse Alex Pretti, was armed and dangerous! This was, of course, rubbish as are most of Trump's claims, but much of the media and social media swallowed this dollop of bullshit. Some in the media did speak out and I expect these people to suffer Trump's wrath in the future. It turned out the Nurse was carrying a mobile phone and not a gun at all. Can anybody tell me the difference between the actions of ICE with Presidential approval in Minneapolis and the actions of the Iranian Government who also gunned down and killed protestors in Tehran? Perhaps again the only difference was the numbers killed but principally those actions of the religious nutters in Tehran and those of Trump's mob are the same.
Trump's illegal bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro should have been enough to cancel the visit. After all, would Martin and Haris have visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow after the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine? No, of course not, so why visit the racist white supremacist Trump? The images of Barack and Michelle Obama were disgusting and insulting to the offended couple and, I would imagine, the majority of US citizens! Micheal Martin regularly uses US investment in Ireland and ‘jobs’ as a cover to hide behind for going on this trip. Does he seriously believe, or expect us to believe, that by refusing to go to the US this year Irish jobs would be put in jeopardy? Does Martin really believe these jobs depend on him being ‘well in’ with the US president whoever that may be? What nonsense and an insult to people’s intelligence. US companies are not remotely interested in An Taoiseach’s relationship with the President; all they are concerned with is profit, and profit on profit at that. They come to the Twenty-Six-Counties because they do not have to pay high wages, weak trade unions barely worthy of the name, and very low corporation tax. These are the principle reasons these firms come to our shores and has nothing to do with Micheal Martin going to Washington, or not!
The main opposition party in the Dail, Sinn Fein, have finally come off the fence and stated they would not be attending this year’s events in Washington. Party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, and Michelle O’Neill, leader of the party in the Six Counties, announced “they will not attend St. Patricks Day events at the White House this year”. Mary Lou went on to state; “this is a principled stance in response to the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.” These atrocities of the Trump gang and their partner in war crimes, Benjamin Netanyahu, were going on last year but Sinn Fein still attended the festivities! Why then and not now? Would it not have been more convincing to mention other wrongdoings of Trump, the bombing of Venezuela, the uploading of racist images, instead of just the Palestinian cause? The plight of the Palestinian people is terrible but has never been used by Sinn Fein in other years as a reason not to attend and looks a pretty weak excuse given the fact last year the same could have, and should have been said. Or could this be more about playing to a world audience? An audience increasing in size behind the plight of the Palestinians, could this be the real reason, a bit of political mileage and credibility perhaps?
All things considered, neither government or opposition should be attending the US festivities this year as the US President sinks to new depths. They should not have gone last year and the Conor McGregor experience over the lunch should also have told both Micheal Martin and Simon Harris something - Trump treats them with contempt!
Trump's illegal bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro should have been enough to cancel the visit. After all, would Martin and Haris have visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow after the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine? No, of course not, so why visit the racist white supremacist Trump? The images of Barack and Michelle Obama were disgusting and insulting to the offended couple and, I would imagine, the majority of US citizens! Micheal Martin regularly uses US investment in Ireland and ‘jobs’ as a cover to hide behind for going on this trip. Does he seriously believe, or expect us to believe, that by refusing to go to the US this year Irish jobs would be put in jeopardy? Does Martin really believe these jobs depend on him being ‘well in’ with the US president whoever that may be? What nonsense and an insult to people’s intelligence. US companies are not remotely interested in An Taoiseach’s relationship with the President; all they are concerned with is profit, and profit on profit at that. They come to the Twenty-Six-Counties because they do not have to pay high wages, weak trade unions barely worthy of the name, and very low corporation tax. These are the principle reasons these firms come to our shores and has nothing to do with Micheal Martin going to Washington, or not!
The main opposition party in the Dail, Sinn Fein, have finally come off the fence and stated they would not be attending this year’s events in Washington. Party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, and Michelle O’Neill, leader of the party in the Six Counties, announced “they will not attend St. Patricks Day events at the White House this year”. Mary Lou went on to state; “this is a principled stance in response to the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.” These atrocities of the Trump gang and their partner in war crimes, Benjamin Netanyahu, were going on last year but Sinn Fein still attended the festivities! Why then and not now? Would it not have been more convincing to mention other wrongdoings of Trump, the bombing of Venezuela, the uploading of racist images, instead of just the Palestinian cause? The plight of the Palestinian people is terrible but has never been used by Sinn Fein in other years as a reason not to attend and looks a pretty weak excuse given the fact last year the same could have, and should have been said. Or could this be more about playing to a world audience? An audience increasing in size behind the plight of the Palestinians, could this be the real reason, a bit of political mileage and credibility perhaps?
All things considered, neither government or opposition should be attending the US festivities this year as the US President sinks to new depths. They should not have gone last year and the Conor McGregor experience over the lunch should also have told both Micheal Martin and Simon Harris something - Trump treats them with contempt!
 |
| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
