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Sep 12, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's off-the-cuff comment about a "very cool thing" has created an international uproar embroiling multiple frustrated nations, reports show. Trump in Dublin on Saturday morning repeatedly told reporters and officials that he supported a unified Ireland. "I think it would be cool," said Trump. "I actually said it would, I think, be a very cool thing."Trump of course was referencing the centuries-long conflict between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over the latter's fight for independence from the United Kingdom. To simplify an extremely complex political conflict marred by famine, sectarian violence and civil war — the predominately Protestant Northern Ireland prefers to remain within the United Kingdom while the historically Catholic Republic cherishes its freedom. This perhaps is why the BBC reports Trump immediately created a "headache" for the Irish government and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.Former Democratic Unionist Party MP Ian Paisley, a close friend of the Trump family, reportedly argued Trump was suggesting the Republic return to the United Kingdom and "the crown." Asked for comment, 10 Downing Street did not align itself with Trump and referred the BBC to Prime Minister Andy Burnham's promise that he would stick "100 percent" to The Good Friday Agreement, which in 1998 ended 30 years of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland.Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson, whose party strongly supports Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom, snapped back at Trump on X."Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington," he wrote. "As unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic."Robbie Butler, the Northern Ireland unionist who serves as minister of health, also lambasted Trump for his comment on X."For years we have been told this President is beyond the pale: his character, his conduct, his position on Gaza," Butler wrote. "One sentence about a united Ireland and he is apparently a statesman of rare vision. It seems his judgement is sound only on the one subject where it happens to suit.""The President was at least candid enough to accept that the United Kingdom would have something to say about it," Butler added. "So would the people of Northern Ireland, who under the Belfast Agreement are the only people whose consent counts."

Sep 12, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump made a surprising admission about his golf game in Ireland on Saturday morning. The president was delivering remarks to the U.S. Embassy Personnel and Business Leaders in Dublin when his lengthy speech touched on one of his favorite subjects, by way of a joke about the Secret Service."They don't give a damn about you," Trump told the laughing crowd. "You're all collateral damage." This led Trump to an anecdote about a golf game with "the head of the biggest company in the world" who discovered even he would not take priority should a threat to the president's safety present itself. Trump then posed a question he suggested an unidentified "they" had asked. "They said, does Trump cheat?" Trump decided to answer this question on Saturday — and gave a surprising answer. "I can't cheat, you have 250 Secret Service agents running down," Trump said. "It's not that I wouldn't cheat. But you can't move the ball. I don't know if they play or not, but they know you're not supposed to be moving the ball around."Trump's admission that he would cheat — and knows how to — aligns with the reporting of sportswriter Rick Reilly in his 2019 book "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.""Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf,” Reilly wrote. “He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele.’"

Sep 11, 2026 - World

Fareed Zakaria raked President Donald Trump over the coals in The Washington Post Friday for his "dangerous fantasy" that he can still negotiate rationally with Russia's Vladimir Putin.There is no placating Putin, said Zakaria; he only wants the destruction of America, and he has proven this time and time again."It is worth recalling a lesson about Putin learned by another businessman turned government official — Hank Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs. As treasury secretary, Paulson visited Beijing for the Olympics in August 2008, just as the global financial crisis was gathering force and markets were increasingly worried about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant institutions that guarantee most mortgages in the United States." When he arrived, he learned that Putin's government actually proposed Russia and China "dump large quantities of Fannie and Freddie securities" to destabilize them further — a plan China didn't indulge."Think about what this says," wrote Zakaria. "At a moment when the American financial system was approaching its worst crisis since the Great Depression, Putin was searching for ways to hit America when it was down — even though a deeper American crash would inevitably have damaged the rest of the world, including Russia. Putin appeared willing to risk a lose-lose outcome, as long as the U.S. lost badly."A businessman would never make that kind of decision, he said — yet Trump remains convinced he can deal with Putin the way he dealt with competitors in business.Trump's allies, he concluded, "see a businessman looking for a win-win. Putin’s record suggests that he is something very different: a man who has repeatedly been willing to impose costs on Russia, destabilize other countries and risk losses if doing so weakens the U.S. Hank Paulson learned that lesson in Beijing 18 years ago. It would be useful if America’s current businessmen-diplomats learned it in Moscow."Trump has repeatedly gone to and from the table to try to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At times, even he has appeared close to out of patience with Putin, but at other times he has pushed for "peace" plans that would be huge giveaways to Russia.

Sep 11, 2026 - World

A CNN panel reacted with a mix of disbelief and disgust to newly surfaced text messages showing FBI Director Kash Patel trying, and failing, to marshal the bureau's press shop against an anonymous internet troll.The exchange, reported Thursday after journalist Seth Hettena spotted it in an FBI records release, showed Patel pressing his communications team to fire back at an account that had mocked him with a slur, replying with the FBI's "record year" stats. A top spokesman refused, warning it "would look bad on you." Patel pushed anyway, insisting it was about the post's view count.On CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," the panel struggled Friday to make sense of it."They are very, very thin-skinned, and they are willing to use the resources of the government to protect their thin skin," said Corbin Trent, a former communications director for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). He noted Patel appeared to misread the platform entirely, mistaking the post's views for comments, and called the director's fixation "bizarre" and "a dereliction of duty" as antisemitism and Islamophobia were rising.Republican strategist Ashley Davis, a former George W. Bush White House official, condemned the slur outright. "If my son said that word, I'd slap him up against the head. I just think it's such an offensive word," she said. Davis questioned why the nation's top law enforcement official would "lower himself" to spar with a troll while crime and murders were falling."Don't worry about some trolls calling you a [slur]," she said.The texts had already surfaced in the FBI's release of records tied to its Jeffrey Epstein review, drawing days of ridicule. They come amid persistent scrutiny of Patel's handling of the Epstein files and his freewheeling use of social media. The FBI declined to comment to CNN.

Sep 11, 2026 - World

The presidential briefing documents were declassified on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacksSeveral dozen presidential briefing documents declassified on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, detail intelligence that government officials had gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security.The documents illustrate security analysts’ tracking of Bin Laden’s movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to US targets. They also detail officials’ understanding of his network in the United States and other countries, including how his operations were financed. Continue reading...