Donald Trump says Irish unification "might as well happen now"
“I have friends on both sides. Great people. They’re Irish people – how can they be bad? You know what: it’s going to happen eventually, so it might as well happen now… I think it would be a fantastic thing... I think it would be a great thing. How could it be bad?”
Reported September 14, 2026 by alternet.org. Checked word for word against that report.
During a weekend trip to Ireland for a golf event that included a brief meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, President Donald Trump told reporters he would welcome a union of Ireland and Northern Ireland and indicated the outcome was unavoidable and could come soon, noting that the British government would likely weigh in. The remarks drew criticism from The i Paper columnist Simon Kelner, who wrote Monday that Trump appeared to have entered a delicate diplomatic matter and argued Irish unification should not hinge on an American president's personal preference. Kelner also cited recent social media activity, including AI-generated images and maps, as signs of erratic conduct and warned of possible global dangers. The article said the comments risked becoming a diplomatic crisis.
- alternet.org ↗︎14 SEP 2026