Top Ally Rages After Trump Endorses Geopolitical Bombshell

Kylie Cooper / REUTERS Donald Trump used his visit to Ireland to fan the flames of a decades-long conflict that found an uneasy truce in a 1998 peace deal.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, Ireland, the 80-year-old president on Saturday said the Republic of Ireland should be reunified with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland.

“Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified.

I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened.

It’s going to happen eventually,” Trump said, responding to a question from a reporter.

He then said he and Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, who was sitting beside him, were actively talking about it, and described Martin as “the right man over here to get it moving.” The United States’ official position on Irish reunification is one of neutrality.

But Trump was decidedly partisan in his remarks.

He continued to boost reunification, saying: “I think it would be a fantastic thing.

Now the UK will have something to say about it, obviously.

But I think it would be a great thing.

I mean, how can it be bad?” The comments caused a flurry of pushback in the United Kingdom from all sides of politics.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said earlier in the week that there was no clear consensus on a reunification poll.

He did not comment directly on Trump’s thought bubble.

A spokesman for the PM referred the media to his earlier statement.