the Falkland Islands<\/a>, a small British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that Argentina calls Las Malvinas, could also be viewed as a dig at Britain, given his anger over London\u2019s refusal to be drawn into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\nTrump on Saturday once more raised the prospect of conflict between the U.K. and Argentina over the Falklands. Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, has recently reasserted his country\u2019s claim to the territory of about 3,500 people, which is roughly 300 miles east of the southeast coast of Argentina.<\/p>\n
Trump has previously said Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands\u2019 sovereignty. On Saturday, he expressed skepticism that Britain would be able to retake the Falklands as it did after Argentina invaded in 1982.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be called into that potential disaster, but if they do, I\u2019ll probably be able to settle, settle it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s president, a Trump critic<\/p>\n
Trump also held talks in Dublin with Irish President Catherine Connolly, a left-wing politician who joined protesters when Trump visited Ireland in 2019 during his first term in office. She is now Ireland\u2019s elected, largely ceremonial head of state. A supporter of the Palestinian cause, Connolly has in the past criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East and called Trump a \u201cbully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connolly said in a statement after the meeting that she conveyed to Trump \u201cthe strong view of the Irish people that the normalization of war and genocide can never be accepted.\u201d She gave Trump several gifts, among them a collection by the late Northern Irish poet Michael Longley that includes the sonnet \u201cCeasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the meeting, Trump first had his protocol chief, Monica Crowley, answer before he was pressed and said it was \u201cvery nice.\u201d \u201cWe discussed a lot of things, quickly,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n
Protest in central Dublin<\/p>\n
Police put up a cordon around Dublin\u2019s 1,750-acre Phoenix Park, where Connolly, Martin and U.S. Ambassador Edward Walsh have residences and welcomed Trump.<\/p>\n
A protest march drew thousands to central Dublin. He had left the city and was on the way to his Doonbeg golf course on the country\u2019s Atlantic coast by the time the demonstration began.<\/p>\n
Many in the crowd waved Irish or Palestinian flags and chanted, \u201cDonald Trump not welcome here,\u201d and \u201cIrish government, shame on you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Paula Butler said she came with a contingent from the Dublin Rape Crisis Center to oppose the American president\u2019s \u201cattitude to women, to refugees, to migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was unimpressed by Trump\u2019s support for Irish unity, a popular cause in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he knows about Irish unity, I\u2019d say I know more on my little finger,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n
Kim Mathis, who moved from Florida to Dublin last year with her partner, said that \u201cpart of the reason we moved to Ireland was to get away from Trump and all of his horrific policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said dealing with Trump is \u201ca global conundrum\u201d for governments. \u201cIt would be really nice if politicians would just say, \u2018Stay home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Eric Trump defends family\u2019s presence<\/p>\n
Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE on Friday in Doonbeg, Trump\u2019s son Eric said the course is the largest employer in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo down to Morrissey\u2019s tavern in Doonbeg and hear from a real Irish person as to whether or not they like President Trump and the Trump family, go have them attest to what we\u2019ve done for the country and what we\u2019ve invested in the country and the love and respect that our family has always shown them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s visit is the latest example of him blending official duties and personal and business interests.<\/p>\n
He spends most weekends playing golf at his clubs in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. His attendance at the Irish Open continues his trend of appearing at high-profile sporting events and having a hand in organizing some of them in ways that benefit his family business. His clubs in Doral, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J., have hosted professional golf tournaments this year.<\/p>\n
Last year, Trump went to Scotland for five days to play golf at his club in Turnberry and later inaugurated a Trump golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. During that visit, he held talks with the British prime minister and the president of the European Commission. <\/p>\n
Asked whether he would return to Ireland next year for the Ryder Cup, Trump said, \u201cI will. Absolutely.\u201d <\/p>\n
Superville and Lawless write for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBLIN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump said Saturday that a unified Ireland would be \u201cfantastic\u201d as he waded into a complex and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3858,15046,36095,220259,13345,615,264535,61,60,264534,31925,43,2096,264533,37270,58000,3186],"class_list":["post-622869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-argentina","tag-britain","tag-club","tag-connolly","tag-country","tag-dublin","tag-dublin-last-year","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-golf-course","tag-meeting","tag-news","tag-people","tag-reunification","tag-saturday","tag-statement","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622869","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=622869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}