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Explainer: What on earth is going on in Northern Ireland?

With the executive on the brink of collapse, what are the likely outcomes?

NORTHERN IRELAND HAS had a massive return to the headlines in recent weeks with the withdrawal of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from the power-sharing executive and many other parties officially declaring their unwillingness to suspend the government until the situation is resolved.

With Peter Robinson resigning as First Minister yesterday, the executive has been saved for now by the retention of Arlene Foster as temporary first minister.

The current crisis was precipitated by the murder of former IRA member Kevin McGuigan in Belfast last month.

In the fall-out from that killing the chief constable of the PSNI suggested both that the IRA is still operational and that they were involved in the killing.

Subsequently, the UUP under leader Mike Nesbitt voted to remove themselves from the power-sharing executive as they had “lost trust” in Sinn Féin and that “without trust we have nothing”.

Britain Northern Ireland Stormont Crisis Peter Robinson AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

With the SDLP and Sinn Féin both voting against a suspension of the executive until the current mess is sorted out, and Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers denying a request for same from the DUP, the northern political system would seem to be currently at absolute crisis point.

There have been suggestions that the UUP’s initial move was a variety of political jockeying, with the hope of gaining an advantage over the larger DUP, of which Robinson is leader.

Sinn Féin for their part insist that the IRA is a spent force and that they personally can’t be held accountable for the actions of a few dissidents.

With that in mind:

How did this come to pass?

The killing of Kevin McGuigan in early August, allegedly a revenge killing for the murder of another former IRA man Jock Davison, saw the perpetrators making a landmark decision. In assassinating Davison they precipitated the political crisis that is now unfolding.

By taking matters into their own hands rather than letting the PSNI handle things, the gate was opened for Unionists to take aim at Sinn Féin from within the executive.

Kevin McGuigan shooting Undated family photo of murdered former IRA man Kevin McGuigan Family handout / PSNI Family handout / PSNI / PSNI

Writing soon after the UUP voted en masse to remove their one minister from the executive (but not the Assembly), Peter Robinson said that the UUP’s actions were merely an example of “political expediency” rather than any statement of political principle.

That may be the case, but the stark reality of the UUP’s actions is that the Northern Irish government is facing the possibility of the collapse of power-sharing for the first time in eight years.

What can happen next?

The executive is currently hanging by a thread, with the resignation of every DUP minister but one seeing Arlene Foster as a stop-gap solution to ensure the executive doesn’t collapse.

That has bought the DUP a week’s breathing space before they have to re-nominate for the position of first minister, a week in which the executive exists in name only as it won’t be sitting at any stage. The main reason for this is it denies Sinn Féin and the SDLP unilateral access to the Northern Irish financial system in the interim.

With that in mind the various parties have a matter of six weeks, as dictated by Villiers, to convince the disgruntled Unionists that they can trust Sinn Féin in a position of government.

Both British and Irish governments will now lock all sides in a series of talks until some sort of resolution is reached. And if no resolution is found an election is an inevitability.

NI Executive crisis Northern Irish Secretary Theresa Villiers PA Wire / PA Images PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images

What is likely to happen next?

An awful lot of talking. The five main parties (UUP, DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP, and the Alliance Party) will have to sit down and trash things out.

If they can’t, the power-sharing executive will collapse for the first time since 2002. Back then it took them five years to get the executive up and running again, something Northern Irish political expert David McCann sees as being the likely minimum in this case.

“The UUP say they won’t attend the crisis talks unless the IRA is top of the agenda, and Sinn Féin say there is no IRA, that we’re dealing with criminals pure and simple. So that’s the impasse,” he told TheJournal.ie.

In my opinion what you’re seeing is a staged withdrawal from government by the DUP, the largest party, and that the whole executive will have collapsed by Halloween.

Which would mean a return to direct rule from Westminster.

Why are they letting this happen?

It may be simply a question of natural change. The DUP’s leader Peter Robinson is coming to the end of his career and his party is looking to consolidate its elected numerical superiority over the UUP.

Meanwhile Nesbitt’s UUP are becoming increasingly bold following a number of positive election results in recent years.

NI Executive crisis Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt Niall Carson Niall Carson

These two parties just do not seem to trust any agreement they arrive at with Sinn Féin, who for their part may have reached peak political penetration in the north, and who in fact have recently been ceding ground to People Before Profit.

The south now seems to be Sinn Féin’s major focus, and where the major political prizes are to be won as far as they are concerned.

Long-term what will happen? Is a return to full scale fighting a possibility?

No. There’s no stomach for a return to the gun on any side of the impasse, not least the Republican side. Quite apart from anything else, if the IRA were to be re-militarised it would most likely spell disaster for Sinn Féin’s grand political ambitions in the south.

“We’re probably looking at at least five years of direct rule,” says McCann.

And when power-sharing returns don’t expect Gerry Adams to be involved, because the Unionists simply don’t trust him.

McCann believes that direct rule will mean likely welfare reform north of the border, with other issues such as water charges and same-sex marriage coming to the fore.

Although one thing appears certain – even if power-sharing fails MLAs continue to be elected representatives and therfore maintain their salary (something Mike Nesbitt argued against just last week). Not bad for politicians without a parliament to sit in.

Read: Gerry Adams: Stormont walkout is a ‘contrived crisis’

Read: Gerry Adams: Sinn Féin had nothing to do with Kevin McGuigan’s murder

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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:47 PM

    Also, her endless celebrity endorsements did her more harm than good. Celebrities are grand at what they do, but people do not need Madonna to tell them how to vote, and get annoyed by wealthy people who have interest in maintaining the status quo telling them to keep things as they are

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    Mute Gordian Knot
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:11 PM

    Watching the hysterical reactions of Lady Gaga et al made for outstanding entertainment.

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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:18 PM

    @Gordian Knot: It is beautiful. Now I am a Guardian reader but even I found the hand-wringing on it today hilarious. Someone called Jessica Valenti was crying about ‘what will I tell my six year old when she wakes up that we elected a racist sexist bully?” As if the child would even give a toss. They need to suck it up and move on

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:25 PM

    @stephen kavanagh:

    the globalist super-rich mass-immigration engineer George Soros, Sutherland, chuck Feeney, the globalist bankers like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the IMF and pro immigration EU, along with their safe and rich celebs like Bono, Geldof, GaGa, Beyonce, JayZ, their liar pro multicult media like RTE, theJournal.ie and Denis O’Brien’s Newstalk and the rest of the Irish hacks calling themselves journalists,

    were against

    the nationalists, the people and one billionaire who decided his personal values of spirituality in a personal God and his own nationalism and national pride and what the globalists had done to his country

    are why he won

    media still don’t get it, and never will, we reject your globalist multicult religion, this is the beginning of your end, alternative media is on the rise, you are finished and more than that, we are going to call for your arrest for treason with the penalty for treason to be applied, for the pain and suffering you have inflicted on the Irish and western peoples, indeed the world.

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    Mute Tariq ibn Ziyad
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:34 PM

    Oh stevencarroll! We can always rely on you for the CrAZeE hyberbole,Trump will have to tow the line like every other American President,Republican and Democrat,who came before him,plus ça change!

    Today’s result is fascinating,and far more interesting than if Hillary was elected,what a bore that would have been. It is the direct result of mass ignorance combined between the Left who ignored what was developing around them,the Centre who cast their protest vote which proved ultimately pointless,and the Right who thing a Brave New World awaits under Trump.

    It’s a wonderful time to be alive!

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:40 PM

    Who’s the “we” stevenocarroll? I suspect you’re all on your own with your delusions.

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 10th 2016, 2:05 AM

    @Billy Mooney:

    No Billy, we is a majority of Irish people who were not asked about immigration but have been threatened and brow-beaten with threats of losing job and career by people like yourself and other OpenBorder Extremists and the “racist” label.

    “We” is also the majority of the world, whom are descended from long lines of ethnic peoples, each race is made of sub-groups of ethnic peoples, they are all proud of who they are and where they come from, they all defend their ancestral lineage and want to pass on that ancestral gift to their children and hope to see grandchildren of their own people too. That is a basic human fundamental right, something you, with your pent up hate, camouflaged as “humanitarian” call racist and xenophobic and deny to white European peoples, yet are very silent when it comes to applying your same hate-accusations on black or asian people.

    In any case, people like the Dalai Lama support me, and as stated the majority of the world’s people. You are supported by the worlds skum, the globalist super-rich, people like Soros, Sutherland, Feeney, the establishment bankers like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, liar politcians and liar media.

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    Mute Eddie Simon
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:35 PM

    It’s hard to take Julien seriously given he was one of those who assured the world Trump had no shot.

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    Mute Reagan Smash
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:38 PM

    What are you on about. Julien is totally clued in. Just like Brexit, his ilk do not have a clue re anything other than the smell of their own farts

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    Mute Brendan McGill
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:40 PM

    I think one of the four reasons, even the MAIN reason that Trump won should be that his opponent was Hillary Clinton, people really don’t like or trust her. Nearly any other decent candidate would have beaten Trump.

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    Mute Sinead Hanley
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:03 PM

    She could have “smashed the highest and hardest ceiling of them all” if her morals weren’t so low….

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:07 PM

    I’m just going to say this: I actually don’t mind Trump. I think he was easily the best of the Republican potential nominees to have won. Anyone who thinks Donald Trump was the worst possible thing that could have happened this election is obviously unfamiliar with the policies of Ted Cruz for example. I wouldn’t have voted for him but now that it’s happened can everyone calm down?

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:18 PM

    Mercille’s analysis is spot on. As capitalism fails more and more people they will begin to search desperately for alternatives to the status quo no matter how outlandish or dangerous. U.S capitalsim is in a death spiral and the demagogue Trump stepped in to take advantage.

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    Mute stephen kavanagh
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:21 PM

    @Titus Groan: Too right. I’ve said this all along, that dead eyed George W Bush was way darker than Trump could ever be. The notion that we’re entering some Trumpian apocalypse is hysterical

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:27 PM

    Reason 1. She is a liar
    Reason 2 corruption
    Reason 3 warmonger
    Reason 4 Clinton

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:28 PM

    @Titus Groan: Ted Cruz was by far the best on the stage of 17 Republican candidates. He is a dyed in the wool constitutional conservative which means he actually takes the constitution seriously unlike Obama who uses executive orders to circumvent it and Trump who didn’t even know what it is that Conservatives are trying to conserve.

    Cruz understands that free trade makes everybody wealthier, unlike the Trumpiteers who seem to think tariffs and subsidies to favoured industries are the way to economic success.

    He has integrity – he stood up to his own party’s leader and called him a liar to his face when the latter was rumbled for having made a secret deal with the Dems to re-authorise the Export Import bank in exchange for getting Obama’s trade bill through the Senate.

    The main reason Cruz’s detractors don’t like him is because he is a devout Christian, simple. Such people always suffix his Christian identity with that default but lazy liberal pejorative: ‘nutter’.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:32 PM

    @Billy Mooney: He is not describing authentic aka free market capitalism. It’s crony capitalism, which can only exist hand in hand with big government. When the government stays small, it can’t pick winners and losers and the market ie people’s individual choices decides which businesses succeed.

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:34 PM

    You can be a conservative and not a religious nut. There is zero to be said for having someone motivated so strongly by religion in politics. Church and state should be separate, that’s that. I’m sorry but his being religious is rightfully something that puts people off. He might be “good” in terms of being a true Republican but that isn’t going to create the change that Trump will. And yeah, I think the hysteria is a bit much. I am a liberal, Trump wasn’t my choice but the hysteria is ridiculous. I am very confident he’ll be relatively moderate in power and I was actually very impressed with his acceptance speech. This election, for me, wasn’t about Donald Trump, the man, but rather the fact an awful lot of hatred comes from his voter base.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:47 PM

    @Titus Groan: I presume you would have preferred a president motivated more by liberal values. Most Conservatives are religious and want someone motivated by Judeo-Christian values. Why is it okay to ‘impose’ liberal values on the country but not Christian ones?

    BTW – separation of church and state has nothing to do with Christian politicians not being guided by their religious values. Conservatives are not going to force anyone to go to mass / service on Sunday. The 1st Amendment merely states that govt shall make no law that establishes a church / state backed religion.

    The problem with the rise of DT is that the alt-right have been given oxygen and now true conservatives like Cruz and Marco Rubio have been sidelined.

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:59 PM

    If by “impose” liberal values you mean anti-racism, anti-homophobia etc., are you actually wondering if encouraging these things is a good thing to do? See, this is the problem with some Trump voters; they see warmth and acceptance and tolerance as these horrible “liberal” policies and not as just a reasonable way to act as a human. By tolerance I don’t mean “bend over backwards for immigrants” I literally mean showing basic respect for all types of people who have done you no harm. Encouraging tolerance is clearly not akin to being subject to religiously conceived law. Which, incidentally, happens a lot with leaders who are particularly religious. I respect that judeo-christian values have helped shape the West but I fundamentally disagree with any political decision derived from any ontology other than a logical one.

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:03 PM

    Square peg, All capitalsim is underpinned by the government and that nation state. Private capital always depends on the human and infrastructural resources provided collectively by society. And there is no free market. Capital always tends to cartels and monopoly as that is the most efficient model for profit accumulation which is the primary purpose of capitalsim.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 10:04 PM

    @Titus Groan: You’re behind the times on your liberal tropes. Modern liberalism does NOT advocate mere acceptance and tolerance towards minorities. It may have at one time but not anymore. Now it forces you into a kind of affirmative action mindset for groups with official victim status and vilifies you or fines you if you don’t like it. Gender quotas are the norm. Hate speech with a very broad brief has been passed into law. Wear a Mexican sombrero on an American college campus and you’ll be accused of ethnic stereotyping or cultural appropriation. Trigger warnings and safe-spaces where students can be spared the discomfort of hearing alternative ideas are the norm on those same campuses. Micro aggressions are being used to justify actual aggression by so-called victims of white male privilege. Cal State university now offers segregated dorms for black students. There is a group within the American legislature called the Congressional Black Caucus – can you imagine if there were a white equivalent?

    Article 3.b of the The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, which I read up on a couple of weeks ago when the appellate court’s ruling went against Ashers Bakery, forces employers not to treat an employee of a certain sexual orientation the same as it treats other employees of a different sexual orientation if it puts that employee at a particular disadvantage – but what is this if not affirmative action?

    I’m not anti-gay – I was very opposed to the criminalisation of gay sex, but I also voted against SSM. Does that make me homophobic? According to some liberals, it does. Just like Catholics and Protestants were so sure the other was going against the word of God during the Wars of Religion, contemporary liberals are so certain they have the moral high ground they are quite willing to impose their world view on everyone. At least most Christians seem to have learned from the intolerances of the past and are reaching out to each other with ecumenical and inter-faith initiatives. When liberals stop being so self-righteous and agree to the same kinds of dialogue I might start to agree with you.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 10:27 PM

    @Billy Mooney: Yes, the key word is ‘tends’ to, just like warm air at the equator tends to spread out to cooler latitudes but other mitigating factors are at play that create hurricanes and depressions. Other factors are also at play in the economy, like human initiative and human free will. If your (or Marx’s) theory were correct, there would be no Facebook or Google or Apple because Microsoft would dominate everything. But creative people take chances and invest in their ideas (easier than ever to do that now with crowd sourcing) and now we all have tablets and smartphones and Twitter accounts.

    The government creates large scale infrastructure because it’s probably the most efficient means of doing so. But government has no wealth to pay for that initiative other than what it taxes from its citizens. Unless you think that money = wealth solely because the government says it is. Well, I guess MMT works for a while, until it doesn’t, la~.

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Nov 10th 2016, 6:22 AM

    I’m sorry, if you vote against SSM, when there are literally no logical reasons against, only your personal, arbitrary reasons, then you are clearly on the homophobic spectrum. Please explain to me how something which is guaranteed to take rights from a specific group that the rest of the population have is not discrimination. Explain to me.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 10th 2016, 11:51 AM

    @Titus – it’s not really the place to go into the whole issue of SSM here but since you ask, it’s because I consider heterosexual relationships to be more important to a society than homosexual ones because the traditional nuclear family is the best environment in which to raise children. If gay and straight marriages are of equal value then so are gay and straight parenting and I’m simply not prepared to take the next LOGICAL step of saying that a child does not need a mother or a fathet; that 2 fathers or 2 mothers would be just as good. Civil partnership could be beefed up to provide all the protections and inheritance provisions of regular marriage but I’m against society putting it’s imprimatur on giving it the equal status of traditinal marriage. Things that are not equal in value should not be given equal status. These are my reasons. You don’t have to agree with them, but you don’t get to dismiss them – not anymore – because a sizeable segment of the population shares them and to scream ‘homophobe’ is just childish. If that makes me a homophobe, then I’m proud to be one.

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    Mute GCLPhD
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:45 PM

    The main reason is people have woken up to the fact the mainstream media is as corrupt as the political system.

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:20 PM

    The job of the mainstream media is to preserve that political system.

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:19 PM

    @Billy Mooney:

    What Billy has a hard time coming to terms with, is that the world’s super-rich are the architects of globalism and their biggest policy is mass-immigration, the destruction of world ethnicities, in particular European ethnicities.

    So when AAA/PBP protest against austerity, all that is for nothing because they then champion the rest of the political system’s system of multiculturalism and mass-immigration, which destroys ethnicities and destroys the rights of the worker.

    Well dumb AAA/PBP. – the super-rich unwitting puppets and enemy of the people.

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:44 PM

    Tell us more about your imaginary European people who apparently discovered America and we’re there before the native American tribes, Sioux, Apache, Cherokee etc? The ones who apparently gave the European immigrants the right to slaughter and disposses those native Americans in the twisted soup of your mind?

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    Mute Billy Mooney
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:48 PM

    So Steven. The super rich are behind every inter ethnic couple and the children of a mixed ethnicity they produce? How are they achieving this. Are they running dating agencies and matching people of different ethnic backgrounds. This is scary stuff. Glad you flagged it.

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    Mute Jimmy Rustle
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    Nov 10th 2016, 1:29 AM

    @Billy Mooney: I think it’s flying over your head. What’s happening right now in the world is that society is getting watered down. A watered down society leads to a lack of identity or almost too much identity with who you are or what group you fall into. This directly discourages the population from taking on ambitions. The less ambitious people the less corporate competition and the more profit to the rich. Hope that explains it better for you. You have to have a business mindset to truly understand the world today.

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    Mute Jimmy Rustle
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    Nov 10th 2016, 1:31 AM

    @Billy Mooney: So Billy as you can see people are so caught up with their identity groups that they forget that they have self identity. They forget that they can rise to power, wealth and greatness. Now to systematically take away that liberty to me is a great thing. Morally it’s completely wrong tho you have to admit.

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 10th 2016, 1:52 AM

    @Billy Mooney:

    Not imaginary Billy, it is fact, you have the internet at your disposal, it is there if you are interested in facts. The Solutreans, from France-Spain travelled along the north Atlantic ice bridge to America. and yes Billy they were there before the oriental americans, who actually butchered and slaughtered them and raped their women, hence the white DNA from that era in their DNA. I never said Europeans had a right to slaughter anyone, they didn’t. However Europeans do have a greater right to be on that continent, in answer to your previous comment on that.

    You will note Billy that ethnicities exist, that is, people of distinct genetic variance to their neighbours and more so the greater the distance from that tribes native homeland or native continent. How did this occur, it occurred because the tribe defended their patch of turf and traded with neighbours but protected their own resources.

    Inter-ethnic couples would naturally not be an issue as much or as often when peoples and ethnicities as they have always done, safeguard and protect their territorial heritage. To deny them this right simply because skin colour is important to you, is immoral and cruel. It is the super-rich like Soros, Sutherland and Chuck Feeney who have public and well-known stated aims, to destroy such nations which are founded on ethnicities, and open up European countries to the world, which is to destroy and violate the sovereignty and right of every European ethnicity to their homeland and to be left alone to live and express their ancestral culture and heritage.

    do you also oppose the human right of African and Asian ethnicities to exist and to protect their ancestral lands?

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 10th 2016, 1:57 AM

    @BillyMooney

    I also wonder if you call Irish Travellers “xenophobic” if they want only to marry other travellers and see marrying any “buffer”, Irish or foreign as a bad thing, do you call them xenophobic, I don’t, I see it as a good thing and a natural thing to want to remain who they are. Do you call them xenophobic though?

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    Mute Eamon
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:38 PM

    He won because Hillary is a massive fraud

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    Mute Gordian Knot
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:41 PM

    I’m confused. The feminist ranting nonsensically on Newstalk claimed it was because America was just plain sexist. So which was It? Racism or sexism?

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    Mute GCLPhD
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:45 PM

    You should know better than to listen to newstalk it’s absolute rubbish.

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    Mute Gordian Knot
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:47 PM

    Hook’s replacement on the evening slot was definitely brought in to fill a gender quota. She is horrendous.

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    Mute Dain Bramage
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:02 PM

    Agreed. Herself and teacher’s pet O’Donaghue are appalling. At least Pratt Cooper on Today fm has some decent guests even though he is also an enormous tool.

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:11 PM

    @Gordon Knot: I agree- nonsense. This had nothing to do with sexism. That’s feminist BS. HRC didnt appeal to men or woman – but thar wasn’t because she was a woman. They didn’t like her as a person. I think it was maybe bit of racism. And a lot of xenophobia.

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    Mute Declan Bowe
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:11 PM

    Have to agree she’s constantly making mistakes giving out wrong information misquoting people etc I think she’s the worst I have heard on a national airwaves ,there’s no way she was interviewed fr the job useless

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    Mute Jeffrey McMahon
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:20 PM

    Would agree with you Evie. From the stats I have seen and heard 66% of white women voted Trump. So, can’t really find sexism there.

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    Mute Charlie Fogarty
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:38 PM

    The solicitor on Morning Ireland trying to hold back tears was fairly funny too.

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    Mute stevenocarroll
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:28 PM

    @Gordian Knot:

    Newstalk Drive duo are on “overdrive” propagandising for Hillary and against nationalism. Spouting the usual lies and smears against Trump and I believe going for a Guinness book of record attempt for most times “racist” is used in a globalist broadcast.

    #IrishMediaHacks #IrishJournalismIsDead #IrishMediaLies #IrishMediaMulticultAgenda

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    Mute Trevor Beale
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:37 PM

    One good reason is people knew how corrupt Clinton was and were having none of it.

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    Mute Kate Flaherty
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:44 PM

    He won because a win for Clinton would have been another victory for the establishment and a war with Russia, he won because American families were struggling to feed their families, he won because he is not a political figure that the Americans no longer trust or believe in.

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    Mute Crimson
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:39 PM

    These 4 amongst many anyway… Benghazi, Wikileaks , Pay for Play, Saudi terrorist State funding via the slush fund/money laundering operation ‘Clinton Foundation’… She should be in prison for Benghazi alone ffs

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    Mute gerard carey
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:46 PM

    The best thing that ever happened to Trump was coming up against Crooked Hillary.

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    Mute Paul J. Redmond
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:58 PM

    I truly wish I could say I’m shocked and horrified by Trump’s election but I’m not and I spoke publicly here a couple of months ago about my feelings about the rise of the right in the western world and who’s to blame… I’ve always been a live and let live type of person. I was a Rude Boy in late 1970s and that sorted out the issue of race and colour for me. I had gay friends in the 1980s long before it was cool and fashionable and I took a lot of stick for it. I’ve always treated people of all shapes and sizes and colours exactly the same way. It seemed like a a no-brainer to me that all people are equal in all ways. When Political Correctness came along back in the 1990s, I strongly supported it as it seemed a natural evolution of everything I believed in but I’ve watched in horror over the last 5 or 6 years as the PC brigade turned into everything they claimed to stand against. An ideology that was supposed to be about love turned into hate and bullying. I watched Free Speech attacked under the guise of ‘No-Platforms’ and ‘safe zones’; I watched the Anti Nazi mob marching the streets and attacking those they did not agree with and watched in genuine disbelief as those clowns turned into everything they claim they stood against. I’ve watched the gutless cowards in the media who claim to be reporters adopt an agenda “for the greater good” and self censor themselves better than Big Brother could ever have managed. And of course our populist politicians followed along like compliant lap dogs. During the recent gay marriage referendum, I witnessed 40% of the people of Ireland discover they had absolutely no political representation of any description in Ireland and I witnessed many of them hang their heads and feel disenfranchised and cast adrift by the rest of society. I watched German and western society after the Cologne attacks in the New Year and reel in horror and feel completely stabbed in the back as the German police and media tried desperately to brush the whole thing under the carpet until they were caught red handed. All this time I’ve witnessed ordinary people feel bullied and beaten into thinking the PC way and discovering that they’ve been lied to by politicians and the media and feeling battered and bruised by the Twitterati lynch mob for daring to have an opinion that doesn’t meet their ever more extremist agenda. Ordinary people feel betrayed and afraid and they’re lashing out whether it’s in the underground MIGTOW movement or the Brexit vote or the AFD in Germany or Le Pen & co in France and now finally in America with the election of Trump. Here’s a news flash to the extremist clowns in D4 and the Twitterati and the PC thugs and the Global Village on Newstalk a**holes: society can’t be changed overnight. Can you get that into your stupid, arrogant, narrow minded little brains?? Society can’t be changed by censorship or bullying or savaging people who don’t agree with your latest whim. Society can’t be changed by attacking bakers of good conscience. Society must be changed slowly and by winning hearts and minds and not bullying ordinary people. Is that simple enough for you morons? I feel utterly betrayed today not by Trump’s supporters but by the very people I once felt were my tribe. I feel betrayed by the extremist Politically Correct thugs and bullies on Twitter and the D4 lynch mob. You bunch of monkeys are nothing but sad little curtain twitchers who couldn’t handle even the sniff of power: you had to abuse it and misuse it and alienate ordinary people who’ve now turned on all of us and are being driven into the arms of the right wings nutjobs who think of you as their Twitterati recruiting sergeants pushing society to breaking point. You bunch of brain dead, power abusing muppets are more responsible for Trump’s election than the people who voted for him. You’ve betrayed me and everything I stand for. I stand for equality and a gentler, inclusive society but you shower couldn’t work for that by winning hearts and minds and leading by example. Oh no, you got a sniff of power and decided to bully people into it and it’s backfired spectacularly. To the PC extremist mob – I hate you people. You’ve been doing more harm than good for the last few years. You’re trashing everything I believe in. So get off your high horses and out of your ivory towers and shut your big stupid ignorant mouths and try a little old fashioned common courtesy and good manners to make a better society. Try and change society with kindness and hard work instead of sitting on your fat a**** screaming at people on Facebook and Twitter and driving them into the arms of the laughing right wingers whom you are enabling and empowering. Is that simple enough for your bunch of PC clowns who are destroying everything I’ve fought for my whole life? Rant over…. Love and peace and equality to all…

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:15 PM

    @Paul J. Redmond: I must say I’ve tried to articulate stuff like this for ages but nowhere near as eloquently as you have. Bravo!

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    Mute Anthony O'Brien
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:36 PM

    @Paul J. Redmond: You’ve summed it up perfectly Paul. I couldn’t have put together such a cohesive rant if I calmed down long enough to think about it. I cannot bear the Irish media any more. I’m only here because of the day that’s in it.

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    Mute Val Martin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:39 PM

    @Paul J. Redmond: Is Paul trying to imitate James Joyce’s Ulysses? Watching RTE news, they make big play of all the tasks which lie ahead for President Trump. Did anyone ever think, that all these tasks are the result of the mess left by Obama. If you buy a house which was well kept by the previous owners, you have little to do with it. If you buy a house which was abused and neglected by the previous owner, you have a lot to do with it to put it right. But to hear RTE’s Cathrina Perry you would think Obama did a terrific job and if he did, why has such a task to clean it up his mess?

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    Mute Paul J. Redmond
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    Nov 9th 2016, 11:04 PM

    Thanks @Squarepeg01. Much appreciated

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    Mute Paul J. Redmond
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    Nov 9th 2016, 11:06 PM

    Thanks Anthony

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    Mute Francais Williams
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    Nov 9th 2016, 11:47 PM

    @Paul J. Redmond: Truly excellent description of how many many people feel. thank you Paul

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    Mute gregory
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:37 PM

    Global trade deals meaning huge loss of jobs to low cost countries has torn the u.s. apart as multinational corporations greed knows no bounds. With 94mln unemployed and terrible low paying long hours jobs only available to many it is no wonder he won the election.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:12 PM

    94 million unemployed? Where’s that coming from? There are only 219 million Americans of voting age. Take away those that are retired you’re saying half the adult population of working age are unemployed

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:26 PM

    More like 7.8 million….

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    Mute Declan O'Flaherty
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:42 PM

    If the US and Brexit elections shows us nothing it is that the vast majority of the mass media are lazy and completely out of touch. How could they get what people were thinking so wrong? Probably because they worry more about clicks and whipping up hysteria for trivial rubbish than reporting real facts, challenging real opinions and clarifying real issues. I don’t know why someone would vote for Trump. If I knew what it was like to have no one ask or discuss my opinion maybe then I would know what it’s like to want anything (even an idiot mouthpiece) that challenges the status quo. If my only two options when I look at the media were either (a) have a politician or professor tell me how stupid I am or (b) “You’ll never guess what happened this guy when he looked in his fridge”, I’d find out what was in his fridge and go talk to my friends and family who probably have same issues. I’d figure out I’m not actually stupid, it’s just that the upholders of the status quo think my issues are stupid and/or irrelevant. The fact is although they might be stupid, they are exactly as relevant as the next voter when the curtain closes. The media should be a representative of the public. An overwhelming majority is now agenda laden and actually couldn’t care about issues as long as we’re consuming their drivel. They should be ashamed and they need to take a hard look at the REAL results of systematically dumping their lazy shit on screens and pages. How could they get what people were thinking so wrong? Because most them don’t care because it’s too hard to find out.

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    Mute Frederick Burden
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:52 PM

    @Declan O’Flaherty:
    The Huffington Post made an editorial decision to add a disclaimer to every Donald Trump article during the campaign.
    “Note to our readers: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.,”
    This is not journalism. This is not impartiality. This is not integrity.
    It’s shameful naked populism of the worst order.

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    Mute Marvin Dorfler
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:53 PM

    Blame has to go squarely on the Democratic Party. They nominated the one candidate who could not beat a clown like Trump. Sanders, Warren, or even Biden would have beaten him easily.

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    Mute John003
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:05 PM

    Julian missed one important issue for US Catholics in rust belt states
    Hillary Supreme Court judges would bring more liberal late term abortion law

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:38 PM

    @John003: Can you provide a credible source that Hillary would have brought in a more “liberal late term” abortion law ? Whatever that is? Cray cray!

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    Mute Paddy Scully
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:40 PM

    1)Elitism, 2)abortion, 3)Clinton, 4) and ”we the people”.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:40 PM

    @Paddy Scully: You are obsessed about abortion.Take a break from it lad.Go for a walk. Good lad.

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    Mute David Van-Standen
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:58 PM

    Sorry but those are not the four reason that Trump won. They are as follows: 1. 8 years of Bill Clinton, Americans worse off. 2. 8 years of George W Bush, Americans worse off. 3. 8 years of Barack Obama, Americans worse off. 4. Hillary Clinton, Americans want anything but more of the same leadership that makes Americans worse off!

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    Mute Polly Dolan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:34 PM

    And it’s the working class Americans that are about to suffer the most.

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    Mute Dick Durkin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:45 PM

    Eh….you do know that 40% of the population of America are on or below the poverty line and have been for a good while now. America is a business first, society last and where there is profit there has to be loss…unfortunately all the profits are going to the 1%. Needs to be a much better balance.

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    Mute Squarepeg01
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:06 PM

    @Dick Durkin: And why do you think there are so many people losing out?

    Poor education because of lack of school choice (due to union control of the system)[

    Crime-ridden neighbourhoods where people are trapped in dependency and where businesses won’t dare start up because of the fear of crime;

    Black racism where trying to better yourself is seen as ‘acting white’;

    Unstable family structures due to liberal views on ‘lifestyle choices’;

    Too close a relationship between big business and government e.g. through the ExIm bank and over regulation which benefits the big corporations with big departments of accountants and lawyers too the detriment of medium sized businesses.

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    Mute Polly Dolan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:14 PM

    It’s the anti abortionist that have taken over this site.

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    Mute Gary Molloy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:01 PM

    I’ll give you one reason why Trump won. Hillary Clinton. End of conversation.

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    Mute Mumpsimus
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:33 PM

    The media gave him an amazing platform? Are you nuts? They trashed him continuously without even challenging Hillary once. Ordinary people could see the disparity in treatment of both candidates and took it as elites protecting their interests. Some votes were protest votes but generally people went for his America first policy and why not? Why not look inward to your own country and see what you can make better. Bring jobs back home to tackle poverty , build a wall as a projection measure against illegal immigration. Send illegals home as they are breaking the law and taking jobs . Granted not all Americans will do them but they can control who gets visas to do those jobs. Yes his comments about women were deplorable but I have heard worse from men which would be considered locker room talk.

    Give the guy a chance , he might surprise everyone.

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    Mute Frederick Burden
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:44 PM

    @Mumpsimus:
    Interestingly enough Trump did not invest in negative attack ads against Clinton. Democrats on the other hand turned the campaign into a Brexit type circus constantly making disparaging remarks about Donald while ignoring the substantive issues at play.
    Maybe they thought the ‘uneducated white working class’ would not be able to understand the complexity of paying a mortgage or deciphering the price of a loaf of bread.

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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:10 PM

    He won because the establishment and the compliant meeja are completely and utterly out of touch with the ordinary Joe soap. This article just proves that.

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    Mute Joshua Walsh
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:04 PM

    Donald won because main stream media got it completely wrong. Main stream media by and large are operated out of big cities like New York that are liberal for the most part. In a way main stream media is metaphor for the anti establishment. They think because they think it’s right to be a lefty liberal and keep talking about the liberal agenda that everyone agrees with their views. Well they are wrong and completely disconnected from the people which is why they are surprised by this result.
    Same thing with brexit, London thought because they were voting to stay that everyone else would. Wrong again.
    Here we have a minority government because people are tired of the same old same old. Unfortunately our political system doesn’t allow for an outsider to come in with an different way. We’re stuck with clowns in FF & FG to chose from. More of the same. It’d be nice to have some main stream right wing parties in Ireland just to mix it up and keep other parties honest and at least give an alternative.

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    Mute Eoin O'Súilleabháin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:03 PM

    As shocking as it is that they voted in that Moron, I have a weird respect for The Americans on this one. They made a change. We do what we have always done and vote in the same corrupt self serving politicians yet always expect different results.

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    Mute Patrick Carthy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:15 PM

    It may not turn out to be the best presidency but will surely be the best reality TV show ever

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    Mute Pat Conway
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:37 PM

    Evangelical Christians voted overwhelmingly for Trump. Biggest bunch of hypocrites on the planet.

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    Mute Eddie Simon
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:40 PM

    Evangelicals realised they’re electing a President not a Pastor! He will fill the Supreme Court with conservative justices which was most important to Evangelicals in this cycle.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:41 PM

    @Eddie Simon: How many judges will he put in in four years ?Humour me .

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    Mute Rosa Parks
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    Nov 10th 2016, 6:15 AM

    US Northern Evangelicals played a leading role in abolishing slavery in the 19th century. They are also fond of Prodigal sons as they seen him

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:03 PM

    Mostly agree with that analysis, but I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on racism and trailer trash element. That’s just a ‘not our fault’ grumble from the liberal media set. The rednecks were always there and a measurable factor, nothing new in that, and this is a new phenomenon.
    But just like Brexit, Hungary etc. The establishment have lost much the middle, they have spent so long squeezing them out and alienating them, sucking them dry to feed the insatiable elite and the unsalvageable bottom.
    Their only hope was to recreate a viable middle class and since most of the wealth has gone upward where they’re afraid to chase it, that leaves pulling it from the bottom layers and worsening their problems. Maybe if Trump does the infrastructure rebuilt through business levies he might reverse some of it, but that’s not the republican way.

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    Mute offtheball
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:24 PM

    @Greg – I couldn’t agree more. The middle classes have been completely impoverished over the last decade or so. They now are worked to the bone for little more than they would get if on social welfare. They are struggling through life crippled with debt and very little hope. Meanwhile the richest 10% are literally getting richer by the day with the support of the political establishment and the liberal media. The only way they now know how to protest is by voting for Brexit, Trump or in our case independent TDs or splinter parties.

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    Mute Dick Durkin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 7:41 PM

    So much division and hate among ordinary people has been stirred up by this election so mission accomplished as far as the super elite are concerned.

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    Mute Frederick Burden
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:40 PM

    Best article I’ve read on the Trump victory.
    Thomas Frank
    ” Clinton was the Democratic candidate because it was her turn and because a Clinton victory would have moved every Democrat in Washington up a notch. Democratic leaders made Hillary their candidate even though they knew about her closeness to the banks, her fondness for war, and her unique vulnerability on the trade issue – each of which Trump exploited to the fullest. They chose Hillary even though they knew about her private email server.”
    “Clinton’s supporters among the media didn’t help much, either. It always struck me as strange that such an unpopular candidate enjoyed such robust and unanimous endorsements from the editorial and opinion pages of the nation’s papers, but it was the quality of the media’s enthusiasm that really harmed her. With the same arguments repeated over and over, two or three times a day, with nuance and contrary views all deleted, the act of opening the newspaper started to feel like tuning in to a Cold War propaganda station”
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-white-house-hillary-clinton-liberals

    ‘Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there’

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    Mute Francis Sally
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:03 PM

    Neo liberalism…. it is the reason why citizens are looking for alternatives. People are sick of shouldering the responsibility of taxation while multi nationals get of with their resposibility.

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    Mute Seamus Cummins
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:00 PM

    Throughout the campaign everyone was saying Clinton was the lesser of two evils and on that basis people should vote for her. But it seems largely American people felt the opposite when it came to voting.Trump and all he stands for was seen as the safer vote than the corrupt, untrustworthy, warmonger that hilary is.

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    Mute @mdmak33
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:23 PM

    Enda Kenny very embarrassed on tv3 when asked about calling trump a racist and that he would say it to his face.he dodged the question 3 times,of course rte did not show the 3 times.

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:32 PM

    Just scanned through. Is there any mention of wikileaks? Pls advice

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    Mute Cormac Laffan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:06 PM

    Codswallop, the US has been mismanaged by the same gang for years, pumping cash out and putting nothing in.
    They have been in charge right up to this morning and it’s a mess.
    Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is not just insane, it’s way too many free rides.
    Trump is no fool, that’s why he’s POTUS .

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    Mute Ben McArthur
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:19 PM

    I only came here to see Merceille squirming. I wasn’t disappointed.

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    Mute Val Martin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:52 PM

    Trump brought many Republican in with him. They have control of the Senate now. Nial O’Dowd on Prime Time said Hillary had a great convention. She did not, she shafted Bernie Sanders and cheated getting questions in advance. David McCullagh said Trump abused women, he did not abuse any women, they never reported it to the police. They do suggest Trump may be a threat to Irish jobs with lower tax rates.

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    Mute Jeffrey McMahon
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:17 PM

    An interesting article. In the first point it states that there was rising inequality for middle aged white males. Mortality was the example given though others could be pointed to. In the second point you make a case of racism, however you have already acknowledged that these other minority groups were faring better in contrast. Nobody actually stood up to address the rising inequality addressed in the first point and that is one of the failings of the liberal parties but it doesn’t get mentioned in the final point about their failings. There is also a 5th reason which wasn’t mentioned, the youth vote was not appropriately exercised, and that is the more serious. I have read that only 1 in 5 in the 18-29 demographic actually voted. There is also evidence that a lot in this demographic treated it as a joke, voting for harambe, a dead gorilla. Voter apathy and the wilful disregard of a serious issue are also to blame in this. Those in the demographic who did vote and voted properly were more likely to vote the other way. That could potentially have swayed the result. Young people (and I am one of them, I fit that demographic) need to learn to exercise their vote and to treat it with the respect it deserves.

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    Mute Dessie Curley
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:38 PM

    Dessies 4 reasons
    1. He got more votes
    2. He got more electoral college votes
    3. He challenged the norm
    4. His fine head of hair

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:43 PM

    @Dessie Curley: Hillary got more votes.

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    Mute Dessie Curley
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:47 PM

    Yes I just seen that. Thank you. This morning when he was giving his victory speech, he had more but obviously this has changed.

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    Mute Val Martin
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    Nov 9th 2016, 10:15 PM

    Noel Wheelan a barrister has just said that Ireland will not has as cosy a relationship from now on. What are the grounds for that? Why should we fall out with America. Brian Hayes from Brussels, laments Trump’s attack on TPP. Why are we worried about ending a Trade deal which prevents fair trade? He talks about growth, how can there be growth with an electricity policy based on wind mills which don’t work? Lastly, there is the inference that Donald Trump is racist, sexist and homophobic. This is a total lie, totally a false statement.

    Elmer Brock of the EU says he is afraid Trumps America won’t protect Europe through NATO. Well I say let the the countries who elect socialist governments pay America for their protection. He is also worried about climate change, a hoax

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:22 PM

    The U.S. Presidential election became a type of Reality TV show. Trump was the outrageous entertainer. He danced, posed and shouted whatever he wanted. The media and his opponents took him seriously, taking his assertions literally. Trump over acted, behaved like a cartoon character and the media and public as well as the pundits lapped it up. Colourful hype eclipsed serious issues and considered policies.

    He or she who entertains wins.

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    Mute Liam Byrne
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:02 PM

    Americans are idiots who live in a bubble.
    Democracy doesn’t work.
    Idiot Americans.
    Enda Kenny.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:25 PM

    There is no idealism left, the aspiration for the common good has disappeared, it is just about how we think we can do better individually. We want to be entertained, have our prejudices indulged, have someone vent our emotions and be massaged.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:31 PM

    On the positive side, Trump will be carefully controlled and managed.

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    Mute Frederick Burden
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:54 PM

    It’s over now Michael. You got your ass whipped.
    Time to build a bridge now.

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    Mute Martello Mulligan
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    Nov 9th 2016, 10:49 PM

    The nationwide vote split about 50/50. No one need get excited that their candidate has won a great victory. I’d say the Donald’s first 100 days in office will be about feathering his own nest while making outrageous noises to placate his supporters. Hilary would be doing the same with her cronies from Wall Street and making policy announcements that would never pass into law. Donald is probably a better deal maker and will get more done with Congress than Hilary ever would. In that sense he’s more qualified in the skills that matter. Hilary is well qualified to be a high level staffer really. No charisma, not a deal maker.

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    Mute ruth mc cann
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    Nov 9th 2016, 10:19 PM

    Americans are the dumbest people on earth for voting for this tangerine idiot! Also the other side of it is, that Hillary Clinton isn’t very well liked by the public and she’s not entirely on the up and up, and people are kinda bored with the Clintons…
    Saying that, I wonder if Americans know their history? This is how Hitler was elected in the first place! Anger at the government, poor people with no prospects or lack of education, swept up in the grandeur of things…

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    Mute Moorooka Mick
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    Nov 9th 2016, 9:16 PM

    The reason for the rise of the Right is that the Middle & the moderate left (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael & Labour) have been
    hoodwinked by Neo-Liberal economics which has lined the pockets of the rich and cruelled the working class.

    Trump, like Hitler, has appealed to the depressed working class and offered the poor a glimmer of hope. The question
    is will Trump resort to strong arm tactics on the streets when the poor discover the smoke and mirrors illusion or will
    he resort to the classic Right tactic of finding an external enemy and waging war.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:27 PM

    Play to prejudice, fear, dislikes and even hate. That will attract the voters.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:30 PM

    Trump voices the prejudices of every man. The appeal to universal prejudice worked.

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    Mute Joe Joyce
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    Nov 9th 2016, 8:12 PM

    He’s like a buck that would get shot he’s too much of a mouth

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    Mute Rosa Parks
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    Nov 10th 2016, 6:13 AM

    I haven’t seen any homophobia from Trump despite what you say. He forced the party to invite gay billionaire Peter Thiel to speak at the convention. Yes I have some worries that he might pick an anti gay judge for the Supreme Court. However I have Google the judges on his SC list and while still looking into it, I haven’t yet found evidence of their attitudes to things like gay marriage and discrimination.

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    Mute alphanautica
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    Nov 10th 2016, 1:56 AM

    It’s still hilarious that the deplorables think D Trump has their back.
    He’s been pi$$ing on their back for decades and doesn’t even try to hide it.
    America really is thick.

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    Mute John Kovacich
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    Nov 12th 2016, 8:20 PM

    trumps win is no surprise to me.Ive been complaining about our government since high school in the 70′s.our government is loyal not the public, who put them in office, but to corporations.trump is great FU to the establishment.
    he is also popular especially with the right wing because he fits our sad rude and crude culture.hes rich a celebrity in a culture like ours that worships all that.but dont celebrate too long trump will embarrass our country and the GOP enough that he will either be paid or forced to resign be impeached or be assassinated by one of his unstable followers.
    I give him one year.

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