Once more, to borrow that grand phrase from Captain Boyle in O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, where, in the world’s terrible state of chassis, do you start?

Let’s try Washington, the traditional mid-March destination for a phalanx of Irish Ministers and diplomats.

But 2025 is different. The bull isn’t just in the china shop. He’s on the streets, and in the skies and on the high seas too.

His agenda is global and reactionary – and encompasses economics, society, culture and geopolitics now, and in decades to come, with lots of very thuggish pals and associates to force his narrow, self-serving, deeply hypocritical agenda over the line.

The entire global framework of values, principles and rules – as well as of truth, reason and ideas – has been shredded. The bad moon has risen.

CAREFUL FOOTWORK

The key currency under Donald Trump is power. Might is right, greed is good. Brazen it out. You can do anything you can get away with – and you can get away with almost anything. The biggest pig gets the most swill.

There is no such thing as ‘truth’ anymore, just ideology, tribe, opinion, whatever suits your interests. Reason, honesty or objectively verifiable facts don’t count.

Have we dropped so low that war crimes, including indiscriminate bombings and ethnic cleansing, mass killings and land grabs are permitted if you’re on the winning side, that is, the most powerful, amoral and brutal? It appears that we have.

The same goes for Information and knowledge. People have walked blindly into a surveillance dystopia in which democratic process, dissent and edgy creativity are outlawed; and disinformation, deceit, manipulation and exploitation are the new accepted currency.

Everywhere is vulnerable and Ireland, and the Irish, are exposed in many ways.

We’re not as popular as we once were, or thought we were. We’ve lost friends we once depended on and gained enemies we could do without.

Careful footwork is now required to keep our own economy and society, and our key projects, alive – without losing our moral compass in the process.

You don’t want to be in the trenches when oblivion rains down.

PRESENTATION BOTTLE

Washington in March is the first hurdle, and it’s likely to be the first cold shower of many. Will the invitation to do the normal St. Patrick’s Day routine even come?

Probably. But it will take all our politicians’ wiles to tack to the prevailing wind, while remaining faithful to our own collective values and policies and doing, as far as possible, what is right.

The incoming US regime seems to consist of four, often nasty, transactional people, almost all men, with little or no sense of humour, but fuelled by an almost- apocalyptic sense of superiority, exceptionalism, domination and vengeance.

Only the cheapest form of entertainment is of interest. Wrestling is in, art is out. Poetry? You must be joking!

But also, they have huge power, home and away and what seems like an insatiable hunger for aggression, for bullying – and, of course, for money.

Let’s be clear: there’s no denying Trump’s mandate. He and his MAGA party were given a complete endorsement by US voters. Dislike it all you want, but they’re what we have to deal with for the next four years at least.

Up here on Hog Hill we think it unwise to try to go toe-to-toe with opponents who are immeasurably more powerful. We can’t do the big battlefield set-pieces. Guerrilla-style smarts and skilled diplomacy will serve us better.

So bring some bling. Flood the zone with business leaders and achievers, sports stars and movie stars donning the green jersey.
And especially golfers.

Up here on Hog Hill, we remember the late Frank Murray telling how he became a semi-serious golfer when he realised how big the game is in US business and how, as he put it, “you get three to four hours talking ideas and deals with company heavyweights, with no distractions other than the great weather and beautifully manicured landscape.”

Hence the new currency of the upcoming Ryder Cup, which will be held in Farmingdale, New York this year and in Adare Manor, in County Limerick, in 2027.

Then there’s the contribution made by Donegal Seaweed to golfing greens in Ireland and the USA.

Their AscoBoost is described by one US Country Club manager as “the first sports drink my greens reach for when they need a boost.”

A presentation bottle mightn’t go amiss. After the shamrock. “How do you get this stuff so green?”

UNFEELING AND AGGRESSIVE

We should also remember that next year will see the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the founding charter of the USA.

And for all that many people – rightly – find it hard to stomach where America has put itself in 2025, its declaration of independence, and the terms in which it did so, were a huge influence on France, the second great republic to emerge from the Enlightenment, and, in turn, on Irish republican thinking in the 1790s and beyond.

The close relationship between our republics is longstanding and deep. The US had been both refuge and land of opportunity; it’s been a patron and sponsor of our climb to independence. It’s been friend and family and more.

We haven’t always agreed but that’s a test of true friendship: to be able to constructively engage on contested topics.

In turn, Irish people have made huge contributions to the definition and development of the US. Almost 10% of the US population claim Irish ancestry.

We all hear a great deal about American Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland and how Ireland offers US companies a bridge to the huge European market.

But it’s not one-way traffic. Most people are amazed to hear that, according to the Global Business Alliance, Foreign Direct Investment INTO the US from Ireland in 2023 stood at $351bn, the sixth highest of all, with consequent (direct) employment of around 300,000 persons in the US.

Also, even as Trump wages transatlantic economic war, Europe (including the UK) is the largest regional investor in the United States, making up 55 percent of all foreign investment through 2022.

So, away from the bombast, buffoonery, and rampant egotism, there are serious points to be made. Bully your friends at your peril. At some stage Trump has to be forced to face up to the economic facts.
Already his, and Musk’s, assault on USAID has begun to backfire.

They went after it as a wokey, liberal handout to poor countries. But their cuts are already opening doors to China and its soft diplomacy. Where aid goes, trade follows. They are so colossally arrogant, unfeeling and aggressive they have lost sight of this. China, on the other hand, knows.

FACE THE ANIMAL DIRECTLY

As for the intimacies of engagement in Washington in March, we recall the simple advice on a trail-head poster in an American National Park or State Park (if you’re ever lucky enough to hike in one).

It’ll tell you that you’re entering a place of beauty and nature, that the animals were here before us and should be respected, that you should be careful and, when finished, leave no trace behind.

But the advice regarding encounters with wild animals – especially bears and mountain lions – has a particular resonance in Washington in 2025.

These almost always end well, and generate feelings of gratitude, exhilaration and wonder.

But now and then things get hairy.

If you meet, say, a bear or cougar up close, you’re advised to “stay calm, don’t run or turn your back”, as this might trigger its instinct to chase. If you back away, do so slowly.

Stand tall, face the animal directly and talk quietly so it knows you’re neither a threat… nor prey. Never run away or approach.

If the animal moves towards you, make yourself seem larger, say by raising your arms or picking up a tree branch. Make as much noise as possible.

Finally, it says “if you are attacked, fight back”. Use any weapon at your disposal.

Sound advice!

Hopefully, the March “encounters” in Washington won’t demand such manoeuvring and guests will leave with pleasant memories of hospitality and the phone numbers that count in their contact list!

You don’t appease these guys or try embarrassingly, like Keir Starmer, to sound like them. Best to get inside their heads.