One certainty: uncertainty

Trump arrived in Ireland for a two-day visit and nobody could guess what the headline would be. By the end of day one it was his wish to see the island unified.

“the only certainty about what might happen is the uncertainty about what might happen”

Shockwaves, then a shrug

His former Northern Ireland envoy Mick Mulvaney played it down, saying nothing had changed in Washington's position.

“This does not represent a shift in US foreign policy”

Both parties agree

Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle backed the same line. Unification may happen eventually, but the US is not about to start pushing for it.

“There is bipartisan support for that deal, and that is not going to change.”

He said it twice

A press conference answer can be accidental. Trump raised it again almost first thing in his speech at the US Ambassador's residence, as if he knew what he had started.

The weave takes over

Billed as a 20-minute address to business leaders, the speech ran about twice that and drifted into US domestic matters: immigration, deals, defence production, and the UK's role in Iran.

Who was really listening

November's midterms are close and Republicans could lose one or both houses of Congress. The Dublin room may have mattered less than the US audience watching before dawn.

The Clinton playbook, aged

Clinton won Irish-American support by promising to join the peace process, and delivered. About a tenth of Americans claim Irish heritage, but they vote as no single bloc, and politics is far more polarised now.

“Irish America is a different place now.”