I imagine that many people in Ireland are quietly hoping that some of the more pessimistic forecasts of what the Trump presidency could mean for this country prove to be wrong and that somehow the old adage that politicians campaign in poetry but govern in prose will turn out in practice to mitigate those forecasts.

Newspapers here recently reported that the Taoiseach was launching what was oddly termed a “diplomatic offensive” – a contradiction in terms if ever I saw one – in the US designed to counter the risks to our economy of full-blooded implementation of Trump’s campaign promises.

It seems increasingly clear that Elon Musk is actively pursuing a campaign designed to polarise European politics and to support hard-right European politicians, many of whom are hostile to centrist government in EU member states.

While Musk is not Trump’s nominee for secretary of state – a position marked out for senator Marco Rubio – he seems to consider that because he may have personal or corporate business interests in Europe, he has some role or function in using his wealth to influence political processes and debate in European states.

His personalised criticism of Keir Starmer and his seeming endorsement of demands that there should be a national investigation of the UK’s failures in detecting and........

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