{"id":353202,"date":"2026-03-18T21:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/353202\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:06:09","slug":"how-worlds-media-covered-micheal-martins-meeting-with-trump-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/353202\/","title":{"rendered":"How world\u2019s media covered Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s meeting with Trump \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s \u201cpained smile\u201d, his gentle pushback and the irony of the UK \u201chaving to rely on the Irish for a good word\u201d all featured in international coverage of the Taoiseach\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day meeting with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The New York Times, in its coverage of the Oval Office meeting, said Martin \u201cwalked a fine line\u201d in both denouncing the Iranian regime but also defending European responses to the war.<\/p>\n

The coverage noted Martin\u2019s defence of Keir Starmer included a comparison \u2013 which could be read as favourable to the Taoiseach \u2013 with a meeting last week where German chancellor Friedrich Merz remained largely silent while Trump \u201claunched a tirade against European allies\u201d. <\/p>\n

But the New York Times did also note some awkward silences. Recounting how the US president had claimed Irish people were \u201cvery happy\u201d with America\u2019s war on Iran, it said \u201cMartin remained quiet, maintaining what appeared to be a pained smile on his face\u201d.<\/p>\n

The visit provided some fodder for late night talkshows. Jimmy Kimmel remarked that Martin \u201cbrought a bowl of shamrocks to the president, which is the customary gift \u2013 and also the closest Trump\u2019s gotten to a salad that isn\u2019t in a taco shell in quite some time\u201d. <\/p>\n

Kimmel also picked up on the fact that President of Ireland Catherine Connolly has been critical of Trump\u2019s war on Iran. When asked about the criticism in the Oval Office, Trump remarked that \u201che\u2019s lucky I exist\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, then, you should probably know that \u2018he\u2019 is a \u2018she\u2019,\u201d Kimmel said. He added: \u201cThe guy who\u2019s constantly screaming about transgender can\u2019t tell a he from a she any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the UK, British journalists have spent much of this week writing about the decline of what was once known as the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d \u2013 as former so-called \u201cTrump whisperer\u201d Keir Starmer has become the US president\u2019s 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 \u201cwas so intense that at times the Taoiseach gently tried to interrupt to say a nice word about Starmer. \u2018It\u2019s going so well, we\u2019re having to rely on the Irish for a good word,\u2019 noted one UK official drily.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump takes aim at Nato, Keir Starmer and Europe in meeting with TaoiseachOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In general terms, however, the deterioration of the UK\u2019s 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\u2019s Winston Churchill bust \u2013 with no sign of the Taoiseach in the picture, nor any mention of him in the accompanying lead article. It reported that Trump \u201crepeated his claims that Sir Keir was not Churchill and blamed him for the decline of the special relationship\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump points at a bust of Winston Churchill a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. Photograph: Jim Watson\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

For Al Jazeera, the meeting between Trump and Martin was an \u201cawkward\u201d one, where the Taoiseach was only credited for \u201cdelicately\u201d pushing back against the US president. It framed Ireland\u2019s strong position on Gaza against the gentle position adopted by Martin.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg headlined its coverage with how Martin had come to Starmer\u2019s defence. Politico said that Starmer \u201chas finally found a friendly voice in the White House \u2013 albeit one that speaks with an Irish accent.\u201d The \u201cultra-diplomatic and soft-spoken Martin\u201d was credited for his \u201cdisplay of polite pushback\u201d against Trump. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Taoiseach manages Trump visit successfully with firm interjects and no clashesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Trump, who spends between four and eight hours a day watching TV, is reported to spend most evenings watching Fox \u2013 if he doesn\u2019t 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 \u201cMichael [sic] Martin\u201d who was also cited as \u201cMr prime minister of Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FoxFox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier interviewed Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin this week. Photograph: Scott Eisen\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Baier, who has done a number of high profile sit-down interviews with Trump, was collegiate and friendly with the Taoiseach. He called Martin \u201ca whisperer between the US and the EU\u201d and dutifully cited the planned \u20ac6.1 billion US investment by Irish firms<\/a> expected this year. Even on the thorny subject of the war in Iran, and Ireland\u2019s views on the same, the interview on the partisan Republican news channel was very soft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s \u201cpained smile\u201d, his gentle pushback and the irony of the UK \u201chaving to rely on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3656,969,8864,42,1194,1843,43,63762,40,38,41,39,112779],"class_list":["post-353202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-donald-trump","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-headlines","tag-keir-starmer","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-st-patricks-day","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-winston-churchill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}