The fighter won’t be Irish president any time soon, but the Trumpocracy seems to think it can shift the country’s politics by endorsing himMiddle Ireland feels grievously insulted by the US president. On St Patrick’s Day, when the globe traditionally turns green, Donald Trump’s official guest at the White House was not the taoiseach bearing a bowl of shamrock, but an unelected stooge recently found by a civil court jury liable for the rape of a woman in a Dublin hotel. Fear and loathing of the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who is facing civil trial in the US for alleged sexual assault of another woman in Florida, is one of middle Ireland’s most unifying forces.“We couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St Patrick’s Day,” gushed Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt on 17 March, rubbing salt in the wound. McGregor was given access to the Pentagon, met the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and the national security...
Donald Trump's endorsement of Conor McGregor, who is facing sexual assault allegations, at a St. Patrick's Day White House event is seen as an attempt to shift Irish politics and bolster the far right, though McGregor's chances of winning the Irish presidency are slim.
