President Trump walked straight into one of Europe’s oldest political fault lines Saturday and said what generations of American presidents have carefully avoided saying.

During a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin, President Trump said he would “love” to see the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland reunified.

Then he went further. He predicted it would happen eventually, suggested it might as well happen now and pointed to Martin as the man who could help get it moving.

The full exchange captured President Trump at his most unscripted:

“I don’t want to cause any problems, but I’d love to see it unified,” Trump told reporters at Farmleigh House.

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He said he has friends on both sides of the border and called a united Ireland a potential “great feather in everybody’s cap.” Martin stood beside him as Trump added, “You’ve got the right man here to get it moving.”

Trump acknowledged that the United Kingdom would have a major say in any change, but he did not retreat from his view.

“I think it would be a fantastic thing,” he said. “How can it be bad?”

The Associated Press reports that Trump’s remarks broke sharply with the caution normally shown by American presidents on Irish reunification. Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom, while the Republic of Ireland is an independent country.

The constitutional question fueled the Troubles, three decades of violence that left roughly 3,600 people dead before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought most of the bloodshed to an end.

That peace agreement did not permanently settle Northern Ireland’s status. It provides a lawful path to a vote on reunification if it appears likely that a majority would support joining the Republic of Ireland.

The British government controls when such a border poll is called, which has kept the question politically explosive even as demographics and public attitudes have shifted.

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British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said this week that he was not aware of majority support for another referendum and that there would not be one unless that changed. Trump effectively challenged that cautious timetable by declaring the eventual outcome inevitable and suggesting there was no reason to wait.

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The president’s words carried extra weight because he delivered them beside Ireland’s head of government, on Irish soil, during a visit already drawing enormous attention. He also met Irish President Catherine Connolly, addressed American and Irish business leaders and traveled to Doonbeg for the Irish Open at his family’s golf resort.

The visit included plenty of warmth as well. One clip from Dublin showed President Trump praising the Irish people and leaning into the deep bond between Ireland and the United States:

The reaction was immediate, including from one of Trump’s most prominent political allies in Britain.

Nigel Farage rejected the president’s position outright. Farage said Northern Ireland remains a proud part of the United Kingdom and argued that its people want neither a referendum nor unification:

Farage’s response shows how unusual this moment really was. Trump went beyond warm words about Irish-American friendship.

He took a clear position on a question that divides nationalists and unionists, Dublin and London, and even parts of the political right.

Whether a united Ireland comes soon, decades from now or never at all will ultimately be decided by the people who live there under the terms of the peace agreement.

But President Trump has now put the question back in the international spotlight, and he did it in a way no carefully scripted diplomat ever would.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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