‘SuperMonday’dragonsinspired by ‘leader’ for all seasons Trump
STRANGE times are afoot when Bono loses his voice, an impulsive US President decides to pay us a visit, the new Garda chief holds a press conference in Cinderella time and politicians attend an acting school.
OK, the fourth one isn’t so surprising.
For me it’s been a strange week, at turns heart burstingly great, others head spinningly disorientating. In layman’s terms:
The Little Fella started school. Standing three foot something in his wine jumper, grey pants and black velcro shoe runners, with his new haircut and sun freckled face, shiny new schoolbag around his anoraked shoulders, he looked the picture of schooldays past, only present and more magnificent than I ever imagine myself at his age.
Time has been moving that bit too quickly this past week pushing me and The Little Fella’s mother outside our comfort zones; this major milestone in his life coinciding with the start of the autumn and all the changes the season brings.
Thankfully, mercifully, the first day went off without any nails on desk dramatics and he settled in just fine opposite a friendly face in the form of a creche friend. By Saturday morning he was asking if he could go to school, only to be reminded that he didn’t have to.
‘But I want to Daddy!’ came the response. Long may that last!
The Whirlwind Wonder was also loving her return to school, if not all the attention being lavished on her upstart of a young brother.
Meanwhile rumblings of a Trump visit were confirmed and social media lit up with plans to march and rain on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s parade. The most unpopular President of a country in recent times, Trump will not be intimidated, put off or surprised to come in for a hard time in one of his franchise outlet countries.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin sensed an opportunity after a week (at least) of feeling the fire from upstart Alan Kelly who wants a new leader for the flailing party – presumably himself.
Sensing the Zeitgeist, Howlin beat the drum for protests, all but describing Trump as a dinosaur despot and among the worst of the human species.
Trump will be here in November around the time of his visit to France for the Armistice centenary commemoration events and after the American primaries. He’ll be licking his wounds, no doubt, so who knows there could be fireworks and more than just the usual grimaced photo calls with Leo when he’s here.
His visit will coincide with the election of our new President. What a shift in the force to the dark side it will be if a ‘dragon’ were to win.
After a quiet summer on the political front, with talk of a General Election pushed back well into 2019, at least the Irish Presidential election is heating up. The latest opinion poll has the incumbent, President Michael D Higgins as a shoe-in for the next seven years, but county Derry born Peter Casey has other ideas.
The dragon with the Midas touch believes he, or one of his spiky dragon friends, can unseat Higgins from his €250,000 a year job. He’s even willing to do it for free. If elected, he says he would donate his salary every month to county councils to distribute to charities. He says it is a coincidence that he will need the backing of at least four councils to get on the ballot paper.
Promising everything is a great strategy for any President. It worked for Trump!