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Why do Irish people take such an interest in US politics?

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    #92
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,559 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    rob316 wrote: »
    He'll probably be one of the most memorable presidents let's be honest.

    true actually


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    #93
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,657 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Lollipop95 wrote: »
    Trump has threatened more than once to take the American companies out of here. It also seems a Biden win would benefit Ireland

    In the 4 years he was in charge, how many US companies left Ireland to go back to the US?

    And it would be the same number in the next 4 had he got in again. It's just talk. A lot of the main US companies located here can't easily just shift their businesses back home. They have invented millions, and in some cases billions, in their Irish operations, that's not something you leave behind lightly.

    Trump can't offer them the tax breaks they would need to relocate. He can't better what we are offering them.


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    #94
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,559 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    NIMAN wrote: »
    In the 4 years he was in charge, how many US companies left Ireland to go back to the US?

    And it would be the same number in the next 4 had he got in again. It's just talk. A lot of the main US companies located here can't easily just shift their businesses back home. They have invented millions, and in some cases billions, in their Irish operations, that's not something you leave behind lightly.

    Trump can't offer them the tax breaks they would need to relocate. He can't better what we are offering them.

    its not just the finances why they havent moved, its rerouting complex supply chains, and trying to source experienced and qualified staff also, and probably a whole pile of other reasons to


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    #95
    Timing belt
    Registered Users Posts: 3,524 ✭✭✭Timing belt


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    its not just the finances why they havent moved, its rerouting complex supply chains, and trying to source experienced and qualified staff also, and probably a whole pile of other reasons to

    If the US changed it’s policy on paying tax on overseas dividend for US companies you would see a flood of cash into the states overnight and a massive reduction in corporate bond issuances in the US.


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    #96
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,559 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    Timing belt wrote: »
    If the US changed it’s policy on paying tax on overseas dividend for US companies you would see a flood of cash into the states overnight and a massive reduction in corporate bond issuances in the US.

    the cash might flood back, but the jobs may not


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    #97
    degsie
    Registered Users Posts: 8,748 ✭✭✭degsie


    I have an interest in watching democracy and capitalism fail. Nobody will do it better than the US!


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    #98
    Tony EH
    Registered Users Posts: 19,340 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    rob316 wrote: »
    He'll probably be one of the most memorable presidents let's be honest.

    If he's memorable. It'll be for the wrong reasons.


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    #99
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,559 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    degsie wrote: »
    I have an interest in watching democracy and capitalism fail. Nobody will do it better than the US!

    this one has very little to do with democracy, but a whole lot to do with one of the most dysfunctional forms of capitalism


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    #100
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    When the hysteria dies down history will view his record quite favourably. He has done some great things in the name of world peace. De-escalating North Korea tensions, Middle East peace deal being two examples. Of course the naysayers will minimise these achievements and apply totally different standards than they would if it was Obama.


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    #101
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 29,559 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    Deleted User wrote: »
    When the hysteria dies down history will view his record quite favourably. He has done some great things in the name of world peace. De-escalating North Korea tensions, Middle East peace deal being two examples. Of course the naysayers will minimise these achievements and apply totally different standards than they would if it was Obama.

    ...and sadly, this delusion will continue also....


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    #102
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    ...and sadly, this delusion will continue also....

    What delusion?


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    #103
    Rothko
    Registered Users Posts: 12,891 ✭✭✭✭Rothko


    Bricriu wrote: »
    Simple really - because we are Americans ourselves:

    No


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    #104
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 2,799 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    It's a small group of twitter obsessed that makes it so.


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    #105
    Timing belt
    Registered Users Posts: 3,524 ✭✭✭Timing belt


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    When the hysteria dies down history will view his record quite favourably. He has done some great things in the name of world peace. De-escalating North Korea tensions, Middle East peace deal being two examples. Of course the naysayers will minimise these achievements and apply totally different standards than they would if it was Obama.

    Just like all the changes during Nixon term are forgotten about


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    #106
    Galwayguy35
    Registered Users Posts: 16,582 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    Its interesting how people think Biden in the big chair will benefit Ireland more than if it was Trump.

    Obama was 8 years in office and had lefties the D4 media fawning over him when he made one visit over to drink a pint and talk ****e about some distant cousin who in reality was probably nothing to him at all.

    None of them give a toss about Ireland and people must be very gullible if they think any different.

    If for any reason our corpo rate rises US investment will quickly dry up.


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    #107
    Timing belt
    Registered Users Posts: 3,524 ✭✭✭Timing belt


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    the cash might flood back, but the jobs may not

    True the manufacturing jobs won’t but there is a lot of people employed in the admin/finance side that would be impacted


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    #108
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    TRANQUILLO wrote: »
    Trump being in office didnt affect me in any tangible way for the last 4 years and I worked for an American company.

    My mother has been waiting for an operation on the irish public system for over a year however.

    Regardless of who wins tomorrow she will still be waiting and there will still be tolls on the m50.

    And regardless of Daniel O'Connell having won an election the man who asked him the result was still breaking stones. But others benefitted.
    One poster complained about so much US election coverage while Varadkar's stuff is in play and a person was brutally attacked in Dublin . He wouldn't know about those things if the media hadn't covered them.
    We are probably seeing the demise of a US president who
    1. f***ed up the world's attempts to deal with climate change,
    2. has done his utmost to f*** up the EU,
    3. has promoted suppression of human rights around the globe,
    4. has made it somewhat fashionable to break international treaties,
    5. has accentuated a trend in world politics of increasing mendacity, bullying and vulgarity,
    6. has shown again and again that he doesn't give a fiddler's about Ireland other than for what he can personally profit from Doonbeg,
    7. has shown himself as we speak to be an enemy of democracy.

    And some of you think none of this will ever come to your door. Most of it is contagious. The most effective way to ensure it doesn't is to stay cocooned after covid has passed.


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    #109
    Timing belt
    Registered Users Posts: 3,524 ✭✭✭Timing belt


    feargale wrote: »
    And regardless of Daniel O'Connell having won an election the man who asked him the result was still breaking stones. But others benefitted.
    One poster complained about so much US election coverage while Varadkar's stuff is in play and a person was brutally attacked in Dublin . He wouldn't know about those things if the media hadn't covered them.
    We are probably seeing the demise of a US president who
    1. f***ed up the world's attempts to deal with climate change,
    2. has done his utmost to f*** up the EU,
    3. has promoted suppression of human rights around the globe,
    4. has made it somewhat fashionable to break international treaties,
    5. has accentuated a trend in world politics of increasing mendacity, bullying and vulgarity,
    6. has shown again and again that he doesn't give a fiddler's about Ireland other than for what he can personally profit from Doonbeg,
    7. has shown himself as we speak to be an enemy of democracy.

    And some of you think none of this will ever come to your door. Most of it is contagious. The most effective way to ensure it doesn't is to stay cocooned after covid has passed.

    8. Make America great again


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    #110
    NSAman
    Registered Users Posts: 3,438 ✭✭✭NSAman


    Timing belt wrote: »
    8. Make America great again

    9. Most Americans were doing well financially and with work under him compared to Obama. (Before COVID). Have to say the economy was booming and no joke, you could see that happening within 3 months of him being in office. Those with money were comfortable to spend. Alas COVID killed it off.


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    #111
    Timing belt
    Registered Users Posts: 3,524 ✭✭✭Timing belt


    NSAman wrote: »
    9. Most Americans were doing well financially and with work under him compared to Obama. (Before COVID). Have to say the economy was booming and no joke, you could see that happening within 3 months of him being in office. Those with money were comfortable to spend. Alas COVID killed it off.

    Very true and that’s why a lot of the US voted again for him.


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    #112
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    When the hysteria dies down history will view his record quite favourably. He has done some great things in the name of world peace. De-escalating North Korea tensions, Middle East peace deal being two examples. Of course the naysayers will minimise these achievements and apply totally different standards than they would if it was Obama.

    Middle East peace? You mean the accord between Israel and those two great bastions of human rights Saudi Arabia and UAE, not entered into by any representative of the Palestinian people, the accord where the Israelis undertake not to steal any more land but to hold on to what they have already stolen. The tyrants of KSA and UAE represent nobody but themselves. A fake accord in Trump's language. Anyway it's nice that the Saudis can repay Trump for turning a blind eye to the brutal Khashoggi murder.


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    #113
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    Timing belt wrote: »
    8. Make America great again

    Only countries such as 1930s Germany and Japan needed to be great as opposed to being good.

    Make America decent again.


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    #114
    Five Eighth
    Registered Users Posts: 298 ✭✭Five Eighth


    Even though what happens in our parliament will affect our everyday lives, many Irish people may view our politics as just very uninteresting. However, boring may, in fact, be a good thing. It is the predictability and stability of our political system that, amongst other advantages – corporation tax, talent, EU - attracts many MNC’s to set up in Ireland.
    When GUBU was in full swing, Irish people were glued to their tv’s and radios. Very much involved. People all over Ireland watched Haughey and Fitzgerald go head-to-head in their television debates and were hooked on the internal FF heaves. Exciting stuff.
    The same applies to Brexit and Trump. It might just be the case that Irish people are interested because it just makes for exciting viewing.


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    #115
    Five Eighth
    Registered Users Posts: 298 ✭✭Five Eighth


    Deleted User wrote: »
    When the hysteria dies down history will view his record quite favourably. He has done some great things in the name of world peace. De-escalating North Korea tensions, Middle East peace deal being two examples. Of course the naysayers will minimise these achievements and apply totally different standards than they would if it was Obama.
    Middle East peace??? While Trump's supporters would argue that he brokered normalisation accords with UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, he also:
    - Recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
    - Moved the US embassy to the city
    - Endorsed Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights
    - Withdrew from the 2015 Iran deal
    - Took a less sympathetic position on Palestinian demands than previous US administrations

    Unfortunately, peace in the Middle East has a long way to go.


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    #116
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    Timing belt wrote: »
    8. Make America great again

    Mammon trumped morality.


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    #117
    Dakota Dan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭Dakota Dan


    TRANQUILLO wrote: »
    I don't understand why so many people take such interest in this .

    I have friends in WhatsApp groups quoting swing states and electoral college this and popular vote that and they know **** all about irish politics or take an interest in anything going on in their own neighbourhood.

    They pretend its because it will affect their day to day lives but i feel its just been sexed up for them via the west wing and house of cards. It also makes them feel intellectual to take an interest in it.

    I find it all rather perverse. People talking about staying up all night to watch it etc.

    They take no interest in the cervical cancer scandal or the children's hospital fiasco for instance. This all feels a little Super Bowl half time show to me... Maybe wed be in better state if we took such an interest in how our own country is run.

    Our own Tanaiste was in the "dock" today and there was a young lad attacked with an axe in the head in Dublin in broad daylight. There are more people talking about an election in a different country than those topics.
    I haven't clue how that is connected to Irish people being interested in US politics never mind people talking about it as most of the population wouldn't have heard about it never mind the details.


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    #118
    Mullaghteelin
    Registered Users Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Mullaghteelin


    The whole "Leader of the Free World" stuff has started to annoy me I've heard it so often of late.
    When Americans vote they are voting on their own issues and concerns. They don't see their president as a sort of global messiah. They shouldn't have to care about the opinions of the rest of the world when choosing. Expecting them to do so would be undemocratic.

    We in Ireland have a tendancy to see the President as all important, and personally responsible for everything that happens over there. Meanwhile, the Democrats have held power in the most poverty stricken run-down cities for generations. Who occupies the white House is irrelevant.


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    #119
    Dempo1
    Registered Users Posts: 26,986 ✭✭✭✭Dempo1


    TRANQUILLO wrote: »
    I don't understand why so many people take such interest in this .

    I have friends in WhatsApp groups quoting swing states and electoral college this and popular vote that and they know **** all about irish politics or take an interest in anything going on in their own neighbourhood.

    They pretend its because it will affect their day to day lives but i feel its just been sexed up for them via the west wing and house of cards. It also makes them feel intellectual to take an interest in it.

    I find it all rather perverse. People talking about staying up all night to watch it etc.

    They take no interest in the cervical cancer scandal or the children's hospital fiasco for instance. This all feels a little Super Bowl half time show to me... Maybe wed be in better state if we took such an interest in how our own country is run.

    Our own Tanaiste was in the "dock" today and there was a young lad attacked with an axe in the head in Dublin in broad daylight. There are more people talking about an election in a different country than those topics.

    Whatever about Irish people taking an interest, Irish Media have lost the plot all together. Virgin media in particular, Poor Gavin Reilly forced to pretend interest in it, brought into studio to discuss the excitement of it all, irratating Paul Colgan also brought in to show us graphs and exude sudden expertise.

    Meanwhile RTE seemed to have forgotten Covid-19 and indeed Irish politics generally , tonight's six one was just cringe worthy, reports from Ballina and the Cooley peninsula (last time they reported from there was the foot and mouth outbreak) . But the embarrassing spectacle in Ballina took the biscuit, do they really think Biden gives a S#€T, he'll have far more pressing matters to be thinking about.

    Is maith an scáthán súil charad.




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