¿What gaffe will Trump give us come the Cinco de Mayo holiday?

The word is getting out on how badly the Trumpites managed to botch the ceremonial fluff this week related to Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day.

Which is odd because, as the Washington Post reported, so many of the prominent people allied with Donald J. Trump’s presidency are of Irish-American descent – even though Trump himself is German/Scottish-American.

It's a wonder Trump didn't dig this sign out to post at White House

OF COURSE, THEY’RE also the kind of people who go around screeching and screaming at every opportunity that they’re “Real Americans!!!!” and none of that hyphenated American talk that they want to believe is what’s wrong with our society these days. Even though I suspect the real issue is many of them don’t know what they are!

So maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt that they really didn’t have a clue as to how vacuous they were being on Thursday when officials from Ireland were in Washington, D.C., for rituals long associated with the White House to acknowledge the long-standing ties between the two nations and to show just how far our nation has come from the days of “No Irish Need Apply.”

Then again, it would be totally in character for the Trumpites to think it all essential to snub other people. Perhaps they think it shows superiority and strength. I think it merely shows boorishness.

Then again, being a boor has been tied into the Trump persona for so long. It probably is second nature.

SO HOW BAD was the behavior? According to the Washington Post:

·        Vice President Mike Pence managed to create rolled eyes with his initial greeting of “Top of the Morning” to the Irish delegation.

·        Trump managed to recite an “Irish proverb” that no one in the Irish delegation recognized ("Always remember to forget the friends who proved untrue, but never forget to remember those who stood by you"), and it turns out may actually be a line written by a Nigerian poet -- a gaffe only The Donald is capable of making.

·        House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., made an attempt at a joke by pointing out all the golf courses Trump has owned on his properties – apparently thinking that Ireland and Scotland (where the game was created) are identical.

·        But Ryan topped himself when he tried offering up a toast, using a pre-poured glass of Guinness that had gone flat. None of that luscious foam that hard-core Guinness drinkers would insist is the mark of a real drink.

Tunisia officials showed Angela Merkel of Germany more respect than U.S.

About the only way Trump could top that last gaffe would be, if the next time he visits Chicago, he were to stop off for a hot dog and insist on no tomatoes or pickle spears, but lots of ketchup.

This, admittedly, is all trivial. But these ceremonial rituals usually are the things that are so heavily researched in advance to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Ineptitude is putting things mildly.

PERSONALLY, I THINK the Mike Pence gaffe is the worst, because this IS the man who would become president, should the fantasies of many people that Trump become bored with the presidency and resign were to actually come true!

Although the fact that Trump followed up his Ireland gaffes of Thursday with a Germany snub on Friday is purely pathetic.

For Friday was the day that Chancellor Angela Markel was at the White House. She got a private meeting with Trump, followed up with a public appearance by the two during which Trump refused her offer of a handshake.

Reports also noted that Trump wouldn’t even look Markel in the eye during the time they were together before the cameras – the moment in which the world’s eye was literally on the two.

I find this sign outside an Austin, Texas restaurant to be amusing

IT WAS POINTED out how Trump had been critical of Germany during his campaigning last year, what with the way that nation has accepted refugees from Syria. A move Trump has called “a catastrophic mistake” mainly because it makes his attempts at creating xenophobic U.S. policies on travel and immigration look all the more ridiculous by comparison.

You’d think that even someone with a limited world view of Donald Trump (be honest, those hotels he builds overseas are largely for Americans who don’t want to have to interact with foreigners when they travel abroad) would be able to find aspects of Ireland and Germany he could identify with.

TRUMP: Gaffes galore!

It makes me dread what we’re likely to get when Trump is forced to acknowledge the existence of May 5 and the Mexican holiday of that date. Maybe he’ll head back to the Trump Tower in New York for one of the now-infamous “Taco Bowls” they serve in their restaurant.

Which makes me think that for those who wish to disdain Mexico, the locals there and in Mexican-oriented communities in this country probably showed more respect for the Irish this week than our nation did.

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EXTRA: What passes for a punch line when it comes to political humor

Cook County Commissioner John Daley had a little fun at his own political family’s expense when introducing a foreign dignitary to his county board colleagues.

DALEY: Personal punchlines

For Tuesday was the day that officials from County Cork in Ireland were in Chicago , and they were on hand when the county board passed a resolution praising its cooperation with County Cork as International Trade Partners. That is a status that goes back 17 years.

DALEY MADE A point of introducing Mayor Tim Lombard from Ireland, and telling all of his colleagues of the significance of the chain that Lombard wore around his neck.

For it seems the ceremonial garb bears a link for every single person who has ever been mayor of County Cork. It literally dropped down to nearly his waist, being so long and only growing.

Which inspired Daley to point out that if Chicago’s mayor were to wear a similar piece of jewelry, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as long – what with the fact that Daley’s brother and father served as city mayor for a combined 43 of Chicago’s 175 years of existence.

Perhaps a Chicago mayoral chain would look more like a choker – although the job at times can feel like one to the person who actually holds the office.

AS FOR LOMBARD himself (a dairy farmer who became mayor at age 35 just last year), he spoke a few platitudes about how wonderful it was to be in Chicago, although it was hard to hear him since county officials had him speaking into a dead microphone.

Which doesn’t sound like a very gracious way to treat an out-of-town guest – giving them the Dick Daley treatment for those aldermen who couldn’t figure out on their own when to pipe down!

GAINER: Family ties



And as for those who think that Chicago politics is too much of a family affair, this symbolic event gave more evidence.

For the initiative by which Chicago gains International Trade Partners around the world is one that has been led by Bill Gainer – whose daughter is current county Commissioner Bridget Gainer.

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