President Trump in a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Martin on Wednesday mocked his longtime sworn enemy, the comedienne Rosie O’Donnell, who said she recently moved to Ireland and is now trying to get her Irish citizenship because of the current domestic politics in America.
Ms. O’Donnell has been living in Ireland since January 15 — just five days before Mr. Trump returned to the White House. During an Oval Office “press spray” on Wednesday between the Mr. Martin and Mr. Trump, a reporter for Real America’s Voice, Brian Glenn — who is dating Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — asked Mr. Martin why he would let someone as unpleasant as Ms. O’Donnell move to his country, prompting Mr. Trump to crack his joke.
“Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland? I think she’s gonna lower your happiness level,” Mr. Glenn said, referencing the fact that Ireland is often ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world.
“That’s true,” Mr. Trump chimed in. “I like that question.”
“Do you know Rosie O’Donnell? Do you know who she is?” the president asked, turning to the Irish leader, who appeared confused. “No,” Mr. Martin responded with a laugh.
“You’re better off not knowing,” the president said, grinning.
Ms. O’Donnell announced to followers on TikTok on Tuesday that she had fled America with one of her children because of Mr. Trump’s return to power.
“I’m here in Ireland, and it’s beautiful and warm — not physically, it’s actually quite cold. Moved here on January 15th,” she said, telling followers that she was in the process of getting her Irish citizenship. “It’s been pretty wonderful, I have to say.”
“Although I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that’s what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child,” Ms. O’Donnell explained.
Some Americans of Irish descent can qualify for Irish citizenship, which comes with a valuable European Union passport, based on their parents’ or grandparents’ ties to the Emerald Isle.
The actress and the reality star-turned-president have been going back and forth for decades at this point, and Ms. O’Donnell will no doubt go down in the annals of American political history given the fact that she was mentioned in Mr. Trump’s first answer at the first presidential debate he ever participated in.
It started all the way back in 2006, when a Miss U.S.A. winner, Tara Conner, was caught doing drugs and partying too hard at Las Vegas clubs — something that could have cost her her crown. Mr. Trump — then the owner of the pageant — announced in December after the drug use had been reported that he would not strip Ms. Conner of her title as long as she went to rehab, and he publicly scolded her for naughty behavior. This led Ms. O’Donnell to criticize him as a hypocrite with strange hair the following day on “The View,” which she was famously co-hosting at the time.
Ms. O’Donnell said on that program of Mr. Trump: “He’s the moral authority? Left the first wife, had an affair. Left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times. But he’s the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America? Donald, sit and spin my friend! I don’t enjoy him. No, no, no.” She famously mocked his hair.
Just six months later, Mr. Trump came to her defense, however. Ms. O’Donnell famously quit “The View” after getting into a heated argument on air about the Iraq War with one of her co-hosts. For her anti-war stance, the future president called her a “winner.” A few years later, Mr. Trump posted well-wishes to Ms. O’Donnell on the social media site then known as Twitter following her heart attack. When she returned to “The View” in 2014, Mr. Trump again offered warm words, saying it was a “good move” by the network, only to later call her return a “desperate” ploy by the show.
The most famous moment of the Trump-O’Donnell feud, however, came just seconds after Mr. Trump stepped onto a presidential debate stage for the first time in 2015. One of the moderators of that Republican presidential primary debate, Megyn Kelly, took aim squarely at the president, asking him why he had referred to various women in the past as “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs” and “disgusting animals.”
“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Mr. Trump said, eliciting a wave of laughter from the crowd.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
