Micheál Martin’s “pained smile”, his gentle pushback and the irony of the UK “having to rely on the Irish for a good word” all featured in international coverage of the Taoiseach’s St Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump.
The New York Times, in its coverage of the Oval Office meeting, said Martin “walked a fine line” in both denouncing the Iranian regime but also defending European responses to the war.
The coverage noted Martin’s defence of Keir Starmer included a comparison – which could be read as favourable to the Taoiseach – with a meeting last week where German chancellor Friedrich Merz remained largely silent while Trump “launched a tirade against European allies”.
But the New York Times did also note some awkward silences. Recounting how the US president had claimed Irish people were “very happy” with America’s war on Iran, it said “Martin remained quiet, maintaining what appeared to be a pained smile on his face”.
The visit provided some fodder for late night talkshows. Jimmy Kimmel remarked that Martin “brought a bowl of shamrocks to the president, which is the customary gift – and also the closest Trump’s gotten to a salad that isn’t in a taco shell in quite some time”.
Kimmel also picked up on the fact that President of Ireland Catherine Connolly has been critical of Trump’s war on Iran. When asked about the criticism in the Oval Office, Trump remarked that “he’s lucky I exist”.
“Well, then, you should probably know that ‘he’ is a ‘she’,” Kimmel said. He added: “The guy who’s constantly screaming about transgender can’t tell a he from a she any more.”
In the UK, British journalists have spent much of this week writing about the decline of what was once known as the “special relationship” – as former so-called “Trump whisperer” Keir Starmer has become the US president’s new favourite target for recreational abuse. Katy Balls, the Washington editor for the Times of London, has written about the fresh verbal assault that Trump launched on Starmer during the Oval Office meeting with Martin, which “was so intense that at times the Taoiseach gently tried to interrupt to say a nice word about Starmer. ‘It’s going so well, we’re having to rely on the Irish for a good word,’ noted one UK official drily.”
[ Trump takes aim at Nato, Keir Starmer and Europe in meeting with TaoiseachOpens in new window ]
In general terms, however, the deterioration of the UK’s relationship with Trump, rather than the restoration of its allyship with Ireland, is the far bigger story at the other side of the Irish Sea. The Daily Telegraph featured on its front page a photograph of Trump next to the Oval Office’s Winston Churchill bust – with no sign of the Taoiseach in the picture, nor any mention of him in the accompanying lead article. It reported that Trump “repeated his claims that Sir Keir was not Churchill and blamed him for the decline of the special relationship”.
US president Donald Trump points at a bust of Winston Churchill a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
For Al Jazeera, the meeting between Trump and Martin was an “awkward” one, where the Taoiseach was only credited for “delicately” pushing back against the US president. It framed Ireland’s strong position on Gaza against the gentle position adopted by Martin.
Bloomberg headlined its coverage with how Martin had come to Starmer’s defence. Politico said that Starmer “has finally found a friendly voice in the White House – albeit one that speaks with an Irish accent.” The “ultra-diplomatic and soft-spoken Martin” was credited for his “display of polite pushback” against Trump.
[ Taoiseach manages Trump visit successfully with firm interjects and no clashesOpens in new window ]
The Taoiseach was also careful to curate some positive US media coverage, with a story about Irish investment in the US being placed in the Wall Street Journal in advance of the visit, as well as an exclusive interview to a Fox News show favoured by the US president. Trump is a fan of Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier. As far back as 2018, Baier said he knew the US president watched his Special Report show on the cable news channel because Trump would often be posting online about the subject of the show in real time.
Trump, who spends between four and eight hours a day watching TV, is reported to spend most evenings watching Fox – if he doesn’t have a dinner or a briefing to attend. So on Monday evening, at 6.41pm in Washington, it is quite likely that the president watched Baier introduce and interview “Michael [sic] Martin” who was also cited as “Mr prime minister of Ireland”.
Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier interviewed Taoiseach Micheál Martin this week. Photograph: Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Baier, who has done a number of high profile sit-down interviews with Trump, was collegiate and friendly with the Taoiseach. He called Martin “a whisperer between the US and the EU” and dutifully cited the planned €6.1 billion US investment by Irish firms expected this year. Even on the thorny subject of the war in Iran, and Ireland’s views on the same, the interview on the partisan Republican news channel was very soft.