Trump's Irish unity remarks a 'dead cat' says DUP leader
The president said a united Ireland would be a "fantastic thing" during a meeting with Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin.
Trump’s Irish unity remarks a ‘dead cat’, says DUP leader
Gavin Robinson said politics in the United States explained President Trump’s comments over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump’s comments backing Irish unity were part of a “dead cat strategy”, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said.
His remarks came after the president said he would love to see a united Ireland during a meeting with Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin over the weekend.
Gavin Robinson said the comments had “diverted everyone’s attention” from media coverage in the Republic of Ireland about Trump’s position on the Middle East.
He dismissed claims that Trump’s remarks were embarrassing for the DUP, despite the support some senior figures have shown for the US president over many years.
“Our party doesn’t hitch our wagon to anyone,” Robinson told reporters at Stormont, adding that the DUP “love many and we trust few and we paddle our own canoe - that’s it”.
Robinson said that “nobody here is going to be waxing themselves into a lather about the comments of President Trump”.
“You’ve heard of the dead cat strategy, you know that President Trump was considering all the press attention would be around his position in the Middle East,” he said.
“And so he said something controversial that diverted your attention, diverted everyone’s attention and they talked about something else.”
Robinson added that he believed mid-term elections in the US also had “very much a part to play” in Trump’s remarks.