A popular set piece in progressive Ireland these days involves a public announcement that one is quitting X (formerly Twitter) not just as an anti-Trump statement but also because Elon Musk is interfering too much in Irish affairs.
The curious thing, of course, is that these same people had no difficulty when X, under its previous owners, was unilaterally banning people who held views opposed to their own liberal views. Neither did they have any difficulty when American big tech companies such as Facebook and Google were interfering directly in Ireland’s landmark cultural referenda.
Such people might best be described as Ireland’s Democrats and their collective nose is seriously out of joint since the Trump win. Increasingly, they appear to view Ireland more as an off shore Democratic state – a sort of poor man’s California only with more rain. For such people, the problem is not the oversized influence of America’s Democratic Party on Irish affairs but anyone who might dare to challenge their world view.
You might say this is not too surprising given Ireland’s long and involved relationship not just with America but with America’s Democratic Party. However, what people forget is that that enduring relationship was with a blue-collar Democratic Party not today’s woke Californian version.
What’s rarely mentioned by Ireland’s commentariat these days is that Irish America voted for Trump not Harris. Indeed, a conversation with relatives in the U.S. will quickly confirm this although Ireland’s Democrats display little intellectual curiosity about that or the factors behind it.
These days, Official Ireland – now largely controlled by Ireland’s Democrats – is more likely to identify with a political ideology that originated on the west coast of America and is now favoured by America’s well-heeled urban elites. It’s a political ideology that might best be summed up as believing that the world is too white, too Christian and generally too masculine.
The notion that Ireland’s Democrats are upset at, of all things, outside interference in Irish affairs is somewhat ridiculous. One of the untold stories of Ireland over the last two decades is the manner in which Official Ireland has been in thrall to that same Democratic Party and its woke ideology.
Take the case of Katherine Zappone. Born in Seattle on America’s west coast, Zappone was appointed as a Senator to Seanad Eireann by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny in 2011. In turn, this provided her with a platform for contesting Ireland’s 2016 general election.
She was subsequently elected as an independent TD in the Dublin South-West constituency. Unlike a lot of independents who end up languishing on the back benches, Zappone instead found herself being offered the plum position of Minister for Children and Youth Affairs on her first day in Dáil Eireann by Enda Kenny in 2016.
In hindsight, the title ‘Minister for Children’ was something of a misnomer – it was really more like a Department of DEI with an ever-growing focus on legislative change centred around ‘Equality’. This continued with the appointment of Green TD Roderic O Gorman as Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in the 2020 Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil/Green government.
The thing about both Zappone and O Gorman is that, in terms of political ideology, both could have passed as American Democrats. Indeed, on her return to America in 2020 after losing her Dáil seat, Zappone went to work full time for the Biden election campaign. Likewise, Roderic O Gorman, with his outspoken views on gender ideology, could easily pass as a member of the Democratic Party in somewhere like affluent New England.
The notable thing here is the manner in which both were feted and promoted by Official Ireland. Zappone, a lowly independent TD for Dublin South West elected on the ninth count, was promoted to Cabinet on her first day in Dáil Eireann. Likewise, O Gorman whose Green Party held just 7% in a three way coalition representing 50% of the electorate was appointed to the same key Cabinet position on his first day in Dáil Eireann.
That special treatment continued even after Zappone lost her Dáil seat in the 2020 general election. Readers may recall that she subsequently found herself at the centre of a ‘jobs for the girls’ scandal when it emerged that Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney appointed her as Ireland’s Special Envoy to the UN for Freedom of Opinion and Expression without the position ever being openly advertised or subject to a competition.
That episode in Official Ireland’s history has now been largely memory holed by all concerned. Nevertheless, it demonstrated not just the special position of privilege accorded to people like Zappone it also showed the extent to which such people were permitted to park lofty ideals around equality and fairness when it suited them to do so.
All the while, Trump’s America is routinely portrayed as an utterly dysfunctional and amoral swampland. Of course, that’s not to deny that Trump’s America isn’t both erratic and unpredictable. But then there is ample evidence to demonstrate the same about an Ireland now largely re-made in the image of woke Democratic ideology.
There is much talk these days about the effect of Trump’s tariffs and the existential threat they pose to the Irish economy. However, it is worth remembering that many of the policies adopted and implemented by the Irish state already pose an existential threat to Irish economic interests.
The CSO recently reported a 30% reduction in tourist numbers and revenue to Ireland at the start of 2025. That will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who has witnessed the wholesale closure and repurposing of many of Ireland’s budget hotels for asylum accommodation.
What Official Ireland rarely mentions is that had nothing whatsoever to do with Trump or his tariffs. In fact, the decimation of Ireland’s tourism industry has been brought about entirely as a result of the actions of the Irish state in its blind pursuit of a ruinous open borders policy.
History will be the judge as to whether Trump is merely a political aberration or if he might well be signalling a seismic political and cultural step change across the western world. Either way, a liberal Ireland largely in hoc to the ideology of America’s Democratic Party is hardly best placed to provide an unbiased assessment of unfolding political events on the other side of the Atlantic.