A Democratic lawmaker ripped into President Donald Trump on Thursday, criticizing the White House for changing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s title to imply he also holds power over Ireland.
“Remarkably stupid, and insulting, of the Trump White House to call the British Prime Minister the ‘Prime Minister of Britain and Ireland,’ Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) wrote on X.
The international flub came as Starmer met Trump on Thursday for the first time since he returned to the White House last month. The two leaders held court inside the Oval Office before speaking with reporters at a joint news conference.
But in an inexplicit move put on blast by Boyle, the White House issued an email stating: “If you are receiving this email, you have been APPROVED for today’s Press Conference with President Donald J. Trump and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Keir Starmer at 2:00 PM EST in the East Room.”
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“Can someone please let King Donald and his minions know Ireland has been independent for a century?” the Pennsylvania lawmaker, a staunch GOP critic, told his followers. “What an eejit!”
Trump has made a habit of trolling world leaders by chopping up their titles at his whim or suggesting the United States would take over their territory. He’s repeatedly referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” while insisting he wanted to make the country America’s “51st state.”
The president has also openly fantasized about the U.S. purchasing Greenland, which officials in both Greenland and Denmark have flatly said is not for sale.
The Irish Free State gained significant autonomy in 1922 and the Republic of Ireland fully left the U.K. with the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act in 1949.
Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.
