What is it about the Americans who have inflicted Donald Trump on themselves and their fellow citizens as president? That Trump is now demonstrating what most sensible people always knew about him may well lose him popular support among American voters. How humiliating is it for ordinary Americans to be led by a man who demanded the Nobel Peace Prize and hijacked the award from María Machado? He has unlawfully renamed the US Department of Defense as the Department of War while demanding a Nobel Peace Prize. It is perhaps consoling that the worse Trump behaves the greater is our room for optimism.

Source: The Irish Times January 21, 2026 15:01 UTC