The French president recognised the need to stroke Trump’s ego even as he confidently reasserted Europe’s position on several issues
French president Emmanuel Macron and US president Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. Photograph: Doug Mills/The New York Timeshas at last issued a formal invitation to Taoiseach Micheál Martin to travel to Washington for the traditional St Patrick’s Day engagements. An important and delicate question is how Martin should approach those discussions.
Even Sinn Féin, in announcing that the party would not be present in Washington on St Patrick’s Day, sensibly acknowledged that the Taoiseach should accept an invitation if it were received. Not to attend would damage Irish influence and interests as well as having implications for future such visits.Junk Kouture dress made of car seatbelts inspired by road safety campaignIf everyone had ADHD, my life would improve tenfold.
On the other hand, it would be politically foolish and substantively counterproductive to go all guns blazing into his meeting with Trump to confront and challenge him, as some domestic political opponents will be urging him to do. The UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who liaised closely with Macron in advance of his own visit to Washington, in this way demonstrating that the Johnson/Truss nonsense has been consigned to history, skilfully deployed a similar approach, including reasserting, in Trump’s presence, the UK’s support for a two-state solution in the Middle East.
However, Ireland is a smaller country than France and has a different historic relationship with the US. Martin will not use Macron’s approach as a detailed template. He will seek to strike something of the same balance between cajolery and the courteous expression of basic truths. An invitation to Trump to visit Ireland would be sensible, and could contribute to deepening the personal relationship that seems to be important for any foreign leader trying to work with the US president.
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