When Donald Trump became President-elect of the USA, the leader of the Irish government, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, wrote to him and congratulated him “on behalf of the people of Ireland.”

The people of Ireland were not best pleased.

There are no official statistics to say exactly how many were outraged, or exactly what proportion of our population are anti-Trump (there were plenty who were anti-Hilary too). But it was—and is—real.

In response to Kenny’s widely-held-to-be-innaccurate and inappropriate congratulations, I think it’s fair to say that comedian Ross Browne has summed up the feelings of many Irish people. He did this in the form of a “gangsta rap” message on a call to the White House comments line.

I suppose it’s an Irish version of Saturday Night Live and it’s funny because it’s true—and we’re going to need a lot of laughter to get us through the Trump years.

Our own president (much more a figure head, than a head of state), Michael D. Higgins offered what I consider a much more appropriate response—one which is more mindful of the serious concerns we share about the next four years of American policy, both domestic and foreign:

“As President of Ireland, I would be conveying the best wishes to the American people for the new president and the period of presidency.”

President Higgins was speaking to the people of the United States.

Ross Browne was speaking directly to Trump—and he was much less polite: {Warning: Adult language!}

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Author: Hilda Carroll

Image: Youtube still

Editor: Travis May