Well I celebrated Easter in West Palm Beach. I didn’t bump into the Donald but I had Easter lunch next door to Mar-a-Lago and as I was leaving the island saw the follicly challenged one depart for Washington in Air Force One. Typically it did a fly by his emporium, presumably to satisfy his ego. That is the disturbing thing about this Presidency, the merging of his private interests and those of the United States. I cannot get rid of the image of him sending the missiles into Syria whilst eating chocolate cake with the Chinese leader. It is frankly disturbing.
The problem with the Donald’s foreign policy is that it is so erratic. You hope and pray that moderate voices will prevail and then suddenly he is left to his own devices at night and all are left on tender hooks that he will send out an absurd and frankly bellicose tweet. On top of that is the very serious matter of not being able to believe a word that the President says. Take the bizarre example of him saying that he is sending an armada to position itself off the coast of North Korea when in fact the flotilla of boats in question are heading 3,500 miles in the opposite direction to join up with a joint exercise with the Australian navy. Behaviour like this is highly dangerous and could have disastrous and unforeseen consequences.
I have tried my damnedest to take a considered view of the Trump administration but there is simply too much unsettling stuff happening and it will eventually have an impact on us all. On this basis I was particularly struck by an article written in the Financial Times by Martin Wolf entitled “Dealing with America’s trade follies”. He got stuck into the U.S. Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross. Remember him. He is the guy who took a major position in Bank of Ireland. Wolf stated bluntly that he shows “one can be a billionaire and yet not understand how the economy works”. He accused him of talking “rubbish”. This, I’m afraid, is a common theme for this Presidency.
Now to the home front. So Endless Enda has now been our leader for 2,236 days. Is he still going to be there for the Pope’s visit in 2018 ? To be honest, I’m tired writing about him being past his sell-by date but increasingly I’m getting equally exasperated by the two leading contenders lack of bottle in laying down the gauntlet and getting on with it. The Irish people deserve better.
With regard to the British election I would have to say, as an observer of politics, I have to admire the way Theresa May has handled it. When recently in London I had an intriguing conversation with a cab driver. A normally staunch Labour supporter, he said he would vote Tory at the next election. I suspect there are many like him. As for France’s election tomorrow, God only knows.