A remark lands in Dublin

Trump arrived in Dublin on Saturday and quickly angered unionist leaders in Northern Ireland by saying he wanted to see the island's division end.

Two meetings, one message

He met Irish President Catherine Connolly behind closed doors, then Taoiseach Micheal Martin. The press conference after is where he said it.

It may as well happen now

Trump called unification "fantastic" and framed it as inevitable, a feather in everybody's cap, something Ireland might as well get on with immediately.

“It's going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.”

Why the border exists

Partition came in 1921, splitting mostly Protestant, UK-ruled Northern Ireland from the largely Catholic south after centuries of conflict. The Troubles followed in the late 1960s.

The 1998 rulebook

The Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles, disarmed paramilitaries, and set one condition: the North stays in the UK until a majority there votes otherwise.

Not your call

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the North's future is decided by its own people, not commentary from London, Dublin or Washington. UUP leader Jon Burrows called it a fallout with the UK, not a question for a foreign dignitary.

“Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom because that is the settled democratic will of its people.”

No vote coming

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said a unity vote is off the table and his office confirmed that stands. Protesters filled Dublin's streets; Trump shrugged it off.

“I gave a nice answer, I think. We'll worry about it tomorrow.”