Comedian storms TV with one key truth about US presidents that we should never forget

A photo of Ronald Reagan, a protestor holding up a "Nope" sign with Donald Trump's face, and a photo of Barrack Obama
Bryan Wall


A comedian on Irish television has shared one key truth about US presidents that we shouldn’t forget amid Donald Trump’s visits in recent days. Colm O’Regan insisted that, even though Trump is particularly nasty, Ireland has welcomed presidents with records just as bad in the past. And Democratic presidents, he said, are often little better than Republican ones.

A “long line” of murderous US presidents

Ahead of Trump’s visit to Ireland, O’Regan asked:

How should we be with Donald Trump when he comes?

Officially, his welcome should be “frosty”, O’Regan said. But this, he said would go against Ireland’s history of welcoming other US presidents with atrocious human rights records. He pointed out:

we’ve welcomed plenty of American presidents in the past without much protest despite what they’ve done.

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He then elaborated, saying:

Nixon carpet-bombed Cambodia before he came here. Reagan invaded Grenada; helped create the Taliban in Afghanistan. Clinton bombed Serbia; failed to prevent the Rwandan massacres. Obama killed civilians with drone strikes and helped the Saudis attack Yemen.

And he insisted that, while Trump is also doing terrible things:

let’s not pretend he’s not following a long line of presidents.

He also maintained that, while most Irish people love Democratic presidents, Democrats and Republicans are often “just two cheeks of the same arse”.

 

Context aside, Trump’s 2019 Ireland visit did not go well

Meanwhile, Trump has again demonstrated his ignorance when it comes to basic facts. During his stay in Ireland, he suggested that Brexit will be good for Ireland. When asked if he thought Brexit will be bad, he replied:

No, I think it should be good. I mean the big thing is going to be your border and hopefully that’s going to work out. I think it will work out. There are a lot of good minds thinking about how to do it and it’s going to be just fine.

He finished by insisting:

I think ultimately it could even be very, very good for Ireland. But the border will work out.

Trump had earlier said that there are “some very good people that are very much involved with Brexit” in the UK.

His comments were widely mocked on social media. One user took particular issue with Trump’s earlier claim that he knows most people of Irish descent who live in the US:

Paul Healy of the Irish Daily Star said Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar “looked baffled” when Trump made his comments about the Irish border:

To one person, it seemed that Trump knows nothing:

And yet another said their “jaw is dropping in astonishment”:

Protesting Trump

Across Ireland, people had planned to take to the streets to protest Trump’s presence in the country. In Dublin, thousands of people marched across the city to voice their anger at him and his policies:

The Trump baby blimp also showed up:

Protest all US presidents

O’Regan’s argument that Democrats and Republicans are often “just two cheeks of the same arse”, however, is an important one. Considering the role of the US in undermining human rights throughout the world – for many, many decades – people should really rethink the welcome they give to all US presidents.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons – Pete Souza/ Wikimedia Commons – Alec Perkins/ Wikipedia – Pete Souza 

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