Irish folklore has an old notion — one that can be interpreted as fun or profound — that certain weird or inexplicable circumstances are often "found along the fairy path."
More importantly, the phrase is entirely neutral; Irish lore teaches that one isn't guaranteed to find a good-natured fairy waving "top o' the morning," though possible. It's equally chancy that one meets precisely the opposite. If you buy into ancient Irish experience, it's as likely as not that Trump's ridiculous odyssey to the country next weekend runs him straight into a Banshee herself, foretelling almost certain doom.
Without regard to the mystical, in the here and now, we know that whatever else the trip entails, it encompasses "Peak Trump" in a way few others can match. From there, one may as well leave predictions as to what actually happens at a roulette table. Oh, except Trump profits.
Next weekend, Trump plans to attend the "Irish Open" golf tournament, an important stop in professional golf and one that is tied to him and his personal business. The golf will be played at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland, located in County Clare.
In other words, just the type of event calling out for the presence of the current American president. Pffft.
No, the self-dealing is self-evident. Free advertising, free fun, and free fortune for Trump. But for everyone else, mandatory extra expenses and hassles — and "everyone else" includes "us." The trip is so off-the-charts ridiculous that it truly does compete for the title of "Peak Trump."
Before we even get into the myriad of ways Trump plans to unleash his all-encompassing gluttony, it's best to truly appreciate the traditional standard for presidents. While it is true that no statute mandates presidents avoid conflicts of interest, tradition dictates an American president adheres to a standard well beyond most. As to the definition of "most"? When judges are granted a seat on the bench, it's conditioned on doing so while avoiding all conflicts of interest, or even the appearance of a conflict, one that devalues the legitimacy of the court process.
Though there is ample "proof" of Trump's conflicts, we can even dig at all the appearances he's about to unleash. And the first problem doesn't even involve a personal business conflict. No, the trip merely conflicts with expectations that attach to his desire to occupy the Oval Office.
First and most obvious. As we've come to expect with Trump, he values his life and safety above virtually everything else ... except when it comes to luxuriating in hedonistic accommodations.
Despite the fact that the U.S. is in a shooting conflict with the nation most closely associated with international terrorism, Trump has chosen to eschew the traditional and buffed-out robin's-egg blue 747, loaded with defensive capabilities protecting against even nuclear war, and instead will travel over in Arab Farce One, the gilded, modern, insufficiently-defended Air Force One, the same plane he snuck away from in Ankara in July due to threats to the plane.
As to the U.S. taxpayer, this means almost nothing about nothing. But as to Americans who expect the traditional Air Force One to land with the full force of American will behind it ("The U.S.A. is HERE, now!"), we instead must endure the humiliation of a plane that screams "I require gold interiors fit for a sheik, or it's simply not good enough! DJT just arrived."
But don't worry. The U.S. taxpayer will be used again to fund this fairy folly.
For a guy who worries about missiles hitting ballrooms in the continental United States, isn't it odd that he's absolutely committed to protruding from foreign pop tents in limitless grass-covered acreage nowhere near U.S. defenses? Or at least not normal U.S. defenses, and that's where you come in.
Someone has to pay the Secret Service members, the ones over there right now, measuring sight lines, plotting exit points. And that is nowhere close to "cheap," even when not measured against a wonderfully luxurious hideaway in the Maryland mountains, specifically designed to protect a president, called Camp David, if he simply must get away for a weekend.
That's not the point, of course. The course is the point.
What better way to attract moneyed, conservative country club goers than to feature every hole as if a beautifully mysterious enigma, one YOU can take a shot at, if you can infuse a sufficient syringe of cash?
It only gets better. These tournaments themselves may or may not make money. But the property on which the course is played will make what an Irish Times writer called "an avalanche of cash," all made more costly due to the presence of a U.S. president — one presumes, given that same article states a fan should be ashamed to attend the event to put money in Trump's pocket.
We also happen to be at war. Some might consider it a bad look to have U.S. troops and sailors putting their health and lives on the line for a poorly justified war while, at the same time, their Commander in Chief takes a trip to his golf course in the most luxurious of luxury boxes. It is bad enough that he plays so much golf (speaking of security issues). Hauling himself in his flying palace to watch golf make him money is particularly disgusting.
Yes. Yes. "Our" president is managing to squeeze in international meetings amidst his nefarious fairy adventure, including with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, surely to at least "look" like there might be another legitimate reason for an Arabian night flyover.
But nothing that can't be held on a regular Tuesday at the White House, part of an officially sponsored trip overseas at some other point, or just on Zoom from Camp David, certainly not high-powered meetings about Russia's recent aggressiveness toward NATO (an increasingly dangerous and critical danger to world stability), oh — and not just because the Republic of Ireland isn't even a member of NATO.
Granted. Someone should check. Are we still even a member of NATO?
One could go on and on. The GOP at least wants him to appear to care about the nation as we go into the midterms. This doesn't even seem to satisfy that. Our trade war with Canada has to be worked out before even more long-term damage is done; the list is endless. But so are Trump's appetites. And plenty more issues where those all come from.
Look. U.S. Presidents travel around the world. They attend Super Bowls. They golf. We get it. But this trip along the fairy path seems to stand out as uniquely self-interested even for Trump. Not that he himself is interested in such things.
Americans do not "root" for the ultimate demise of the president (or are at least not ordinarily supposed to), but if Trump's trip along this path included hearing the wail of a banshee — well, it would seem amply invited.
Jason Miciak is a Raw Story columnist, an author, political consultant, attorney, and a single parent, girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com.