Police outnumber fans as Donald Trump lands in Ireland

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived Wednesday night in Ireland for a brief visit to his golf resort in Doonbeg, County Clare, on the western Atlantic coast.

Fewer than a dozen fans greeted him as his motorcade arrived in the village. The smattering of U.S. flags and MAGA hats among people standing by the roadside were greatly outnumbered by Secret Service and Irish police.

Trump did, however, receive a typically warm welcome inside the resort, the largest employer in the village with a staff of 300, including a performance by traditional Irish dancers. He traveled to Ireland with his second son, Eric.

Reporters at the hotel asked Trump what he thought of Joe Biden’s four-day visit last month to Ireland, when tens of thousands cheered the current U.S. president at walkabouts and rallies. “I didn’t see too much of his visit. I don’t know what he did here,” Trump said.

Trump, a vocal backer of Brexit, was also asked for his take on arguments over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland, which caused a walkout by the Democratic Unionists that has put the cross-community government on ice and left civil servants effectively running the show. His response indicated little awareness of the long-running Belfast dispute.

“Well, we’re going to see. They’re negotiating and we’re going to see. There are a lot of negotiations going on in Ireland and other places right now, but that’s going to be a tough one, it’s not an easy one. We’re going to have to work it out,” he said.

Trump has no scheduled public engagements in Ireland but plans to play a round of golf Thursday at the resort, which he bought in 2014 for about €15 million. He spent much of his time at the resort when he visited Ireland as president in 2019.