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World News See other World News Articles Title: Amid somber D-Day commemorations, Trump keeps stirring the pot Amid somber D-Day commemorations, Trump keeps stirring the pot By Eli Stokols, Los Angeles Times 12 hrs ago Trump joins world leaders for 75th D-Day anniversary SHANNON, Ireland — Before heading to the first of a series of D-Day commemorations Wednesday, President Donald Trump attempted to use a television interview with a friendly journalist to clean up a couple of messes he had made, only to create new controversy later by wading into the touchy issue of Ireland’s border with the United Kingdom. In an interview with Piers Morgan, the British journalist and longtime Trump friend, the president partially walked back his criticism of the American-born Duchess of Sussex, the former Meghan Markle, and attempted to get out of a jam involving U.S.-British trade. He also continued to focus on domestic opponents, tweeting insults at the Senate’s Democratic leader and Bette Midler, the singer/actress and frequent Trump critic. Trump’s main public event of the day came in Portsmouth, where world leaders gathered at a British naval base to mark the eve of the 75th anniversary of D-Day with a televised ceremony that included firsthand accounts of the invasion, artistic performances and other reflections. Trump, who sat beside Queen Elizabeth II, took the stage only briefly to read an excerpt from a prayer that President Franklin D. Roosevelt read to the nation on the radio on the eve of the D-Day operation. Following the ceremony, he met briefly with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then, upon arrival in Ireland, he met with Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach or prime minister, and casually seemed to suggest that Brexit, which has caused deep political pain in Britain, could be eased by building a border wall to separate Ireland from Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. “I think it will all work out very well, and also for you with your wall, your border,” Trump said. “I mean, we have a border situation in the United States, and you have one over here. But I hear it’s going to work out very well here.” British and Irish political leaders have spent the last three years desperately trying to come up with ways for Britain to exit the European Union while avoiding precisely that outcome. They fear that a return to a hard border between the two parts of Ireland could restart the violence that took thousands of lives during the so-called Troubles that lasted from the 1960s through 1998. Varadkar, who looked uncomfortable as Trump spoke, replied: “I think one thing we want to avoid, of course, is a wall or border between us.” a group of people standing in front of a crowd: Members of the military parade on stage during the D-Day Commemorations on June 5, 2019 in Portsmouth, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images/TNS) **FOR USE WITH THIS STORY ONLY** 1/3 SLIDES © Dan Kitwood/Getty Images North America/TNS Members of the military parade on stage during the D-Day Commemorations on June 5, 2019 in Portsmouth, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images/TNS) **FOR USE WITH THIS STORY ONLY** Trump responded by tempering his initial comments. “I think you do, I think you do,” he said. “The way it works now is good, you want to try and to keep it that way. I know that’s a big point of contention with respect to Brexit.” Asked if he thought Brexit would be bad for Ireland, Trump said, “I think it should be good. The big thing is going to be your border, and hopefully that’s going to work out, and I think it will work out.” The afternoon exchange came just before Trump took a helicopter to retire for the evening at his golf resort at Doonbeg on Ireland’s western coast — putting a bookend on a day that began in London with early morning Twitter attacks and a splashy television interview. In the interview with Morgan, the host of “Good Morning Britain,” that was conducted Tuesday and aired across Britain on Wednesday morning, Trump walked back several erroneous and controversial comments that have hung over his otherwise positive five-day visit to Europe. The 54-year old Morgan has been a friend of the president since his appearances on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” show in 2008, which played a major role in boosting his career. Trump told Morgan that he did not mean to insult Meghan when he referred to her in another interview days ago as “nasty.” The comment cast a pall over Trump’s visit and generated immense media coverage in the U.S. and Britain, where Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, draws huge amounts of attention. Trump had first tried to deny ever having made the remark, tweeting on Sunday that “I never called Meghan Markle ‘nasty.’ Made up by the Fake News Media.” Unfortunately for that approach, the British tabloid the Sun, which conducted the interview, had a recording of him, which it released. With Morgan, Trump tried a different tack, saying that he was speaking specifically about a comment Meghan made about him during the 2016 campaign, not about her as an individual. Slide 1 of 74: President Donald Trump meets with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Wednesday, June 5, 2019, in Shannon, Ireland. Trump is on his first visit to the country as president. 1/74 SLIDES © Alex Brandon/AP Photos U.S. President Donald Trump is visiting Ireland after a 3 day state visit to the United Kingdom. President Donald Trump meets with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Wednesday, June 5, 2019, in Shannon, Ireland. Trump is on his first visit to the country as president. Slideshow by photo services “She was nasty to me,” he said. “And that’s OK for her to be nasty, it’s not good for me to be nasty to her, and I wasn’t.” Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 4.
#4. To: BTP Holdings, *The Border* (#0)
(Edited)
British and Irish political leaders have spent the last three years desperately trying to come up with ways for Britain to exit the European Union ... They fear that a return to a hard border between the two parts of Ireland could restart the violence that took thousands of lives during the so-called Troubles that lasted from the 1960s through 1998. Why has the border between EU-Ireland and UK-Northern Ireland been stopping Brexit? It's not like all those countries directly involved aren't European - or could that be what's implied without saying so outright?: sort of like European Identity Theft being perpetrated against the British and demotion to outcast status. Or is something else getting lost in translations from Belgium linguistics to English? - to the point that it looks from across the pond like a bunch of strawman arguments to obstruct progress. If the European UK and European Ireland want an open border like they already had and the European Union is ok with that, Brexit problem solved. If the EU isn't ok with that, what's the reason(s)? The EU was only supposed to be a Free Market/Free Trade commerce arrangement when it was formed, not a government dictatorship. Maybe the actual problem is that the European Union should change it's name to something other than "European" to be more clear about its purpose. Every European nation-state isn't part of the EU Collective and those that aren't (Switzerland et al.) don't seem to have such border-soveriegnty dilemmas. In fact, until this Brexit barrier balderdash, the EU has demanded that all EU countries have "open borders" there, whether they they want that or not -- except along its eastern edge with non-European nations, where it has insisted there be hard borders and extra security. Now the EU objects to open borders in Ireland with the UK because Brussels bureaucrats refuse to let the UK continue as if it's a non-foreign entity of Europe after exiting the Union? - might not officially consider it to be a co-partner of Europe's realm anymore; but its ok for boatloads of migrants from foreign lands to have "freedom of movement" thereabouts as they please or what? This is why there are Americans who don't believe the real question in the EU and UK border situation is about if, when or how to leave the EU but more like: Why is there still an EU at all with such incomprehensible discordians tormenting Brits for so long as if they've become like strangers to Europe and somehow less welcome to cross the eastern border of Ireland than foreign invaders walking ashore on the western side of the island?
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