DESPITE last weekend in Doonbeg being about golf and despite Shane Lowry carding a record score, beating Bernhard Langer’s 1987 figure, Trump displayed his unrivalled ability to make the whole event about himself.

He even managed to upstage Lowry as he presented the crystal trophy to him by interrupting the presentation to tell the crowd, to rapturous cheers, that he had removed the tariff on Irish whiskey.

Of course that’s just about sport. The main takeaway from the weekend, as Trump knew perfectly well it would be, was the president’s repeated remarks supporting Irish reunification as “natural”, “beautiful”, “a fantastic thing”.

He knew “the UK will have something to say about it, obviously” and they did, with the British government, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage all pitching in their predictable reactions.

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For unionists it was a chastening experience. After all, they have resolutely supported Trump’s egregious behaviour, his endorsement of Israel’s genocidal savagery, and rushed to be photographed with him as they masqueraded as Irish in Washington for St Patrick’s Day.

Double chastening, because unionists know that Trump was articulating what leaders around the world all think, if a thought of Ireland ever crosses their........

© The Irish News