Now that Donald Trump has won the presidential election, he must perform the duties of the president. That means less time for his old hobbies–like sputtering off about his racist sex fantasies for an arena full of adoring fans–and more time spent on stressful, tedious things like attending national security briefings and talking to Stephen Miller. This week, Trump’s presidential schedule included one international bummer after another. First, he met with Irish prime minister Edna Kenny, who publicly dunked on our president in the most dignified manner possible. Then, he met with German prime minister Angela Merkel, and (perhaps still smarting from Kenny’s brutal burn) pouted like a petulant child.
Kenny paid the White House a diplomatic visit on Thursday as an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration, bearing a bowl of shamrocks as a gift. Trump proclaimed his love for Kenny’s people by reading a traditional “Irish proverb” that turned out to be a verse by a Nigerian poet-banker; Kenny made clear his utter disdain for Trump’s policies by giving a long, literary monologue about the plight of Irish immigrants who came to American shores two centuries ago. “Ireland came to America because, deprived of liberty, deprived of opportunity, of safety, of even food itself, the Irish believed,” Kenny said, Trump standing just feet away from him. “And four decades before Lady Liberty lifted her lamp, we were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore. We believed in the shelter of America, in the compassion of America, in the opportunity of America. We came, and we became Americans.” It would have been hard for Trump to take those words as anything other than a harsh rebuke. Watch it below.
"We were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore," Irish prime minister says with Donald Trump in the room. pic.twitter.com/7jEfTVvIzE
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) March 17, 2017
Then, today, Trump had a meeting with Merkel, another politician with whom he has clashed on the subject of immigration and refugees. The pair posed for photos, and at least one photographer asked if they would shake hands. “Do you want a handshake?” Merkel asked Trump, and he responded like boy who’s mad at his mommy for taking away the TV remote, staring at the floor in silence. (To be fair, the pair was photographed shaking hands earlier in the day.)
Merkel asks Trump: “Do you want to have a handshake?”
The U.S. president did not respond.https://t.co/dgLHkN1H7o pic.twitter.com/ChonvrLITV— POLITICO (@politico) March 17, 2017
A no good, very bad couple of days for President Trump. Don’t cry for him, though: he’ll be golfing at Mar-A-Lago this weekend, which should cheer him right up.
