Actor and comedian Rosie O’Donnell has written to the Taoiseach Micheál Martin apologising for him becoming dragged into her long-running feud with US president Donald Trump.
Mr Martin seemed puzzled when, during his visit to the White House last week, conservative journalist Brian Glenn referred to her decision to move to Ireland after President Trump was re-elected.
Mr Glenn asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin: “Ireland is known for very happy, fun-loving people ... Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland?”
Mr Martin looked puzzled by the question and did not appear to know who she was which prompted Trump to say: “Did you know you have Rosie O’Donnell? Do you know who she is? ... you’re better off not knowing.”
Speaking on the Late Late Show, O’Donnell said it was “very surreal” for her name to be used in the context of the press conference in the White House.
She and President Trump have a long history of enmity stretching back almost 20 years when she described him as like a “snake-oil salesman on Little House on the Prairie”.
She said: “I mentioned that he was not in fact the businessman that he thinks that he was on The Apprentice. He was very angry to say the least and he hasn’t let it go. He uses me as a punchline whenever he feels the need. He’s been doing it for two decades.
“I felt very troubled that the Taoiseach was put in that position. He [Trump] is out to get me in ways that are startling.
“I wrote a little note to the Taoiseach and I got a note back thanking me. I just wanted him to know the history.”
O’Donnell moved to Ireland on January 15th with her 12-year-old autistic son Clay.
She feared her son would be denied services if they stayed in the United States.
She cited Project 2025 as one of the reasons why she left. The document from the Heritage Foundation proposes the gutting of social welfare programmes, she claims, and “will be disastrous for children on the spectrum”.
Another reason for her move to Ireland was the US Supreme Court judgment last July that stated US presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution when making an official act.
This ruling, she stated, had given him the “powers of a king or a monarch and that’s a terrifying prospect. What has happened since he has taken office is terrifying for the world and for the United States of America”.
She appeared to cast doubt on the American election result stating that a president had never won all swing states before. Kamala Harris appeared to packed stadiums; President Trump did not.
She also said that Elon Musk now “owns and runs the internet. I hope that will be investigated.”
President Trump’s policies will ultimately not just affect “the left-wing liberal set that they despise”, she predicted.
She said the presence of Conor McGregor in the White House on St Patrick’s Day was depressing. “It seems strange to me that the President has so many friends who are sexual abusers.
“It says we are in trouble. To think that cruelty and lack of empathy is a value that is spouted from the highest office in the land is overwhelmingly sad to me personally and too much for me to take”.
