LATE NIGHT TELEVISION hosts in the United States poked fun at President Donald Trump yesterday after he misgendered President Catherine Connolly. 

During Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to the Oval Office in the White House, a reporter asked Trump what he made of Connolly’s criticism of the US-Israeli war against Iran, which she has described as illegal and a “deliberate assault” on international law.

Trump paused for a moment before answering: “He’s lucky I exist.” 

Martin looked on with a sheepish, nervous smile and did not correct Trump.

Talk show hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel both referenced Trump’s gaffe in their monologues last night. 

“You know Ireland has both a prime minister and a president,” Kimmel explained to his American audience. 

“Their president has been critical of Trump’s war on Iran and the prime minister today had to sit by quietly while Trump was asked about that,” he said, before rolling a clip of the exchange between Trump and the reporter. 

When the clip concluded with Trump saying “He’s lucky I exist”, Kimmel jumped back in to say: “Well then you should probably know that he is a she. The president of Ireland is a woman named Catherine Connolly.”

Kimmel then noted that Trump had made the same mistake when talking about Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also a woman. 

“The guy who’s constantly screaming about transgender can’t tell a he from a she anymore,” Kimmel said. 

Colbert also played the clip on his show and threw in some jokes about Ireland for good measure (while making sure to emphasise that he himself has Irish heritage).

Before rolling the footage from the Oval Office, Colbert quipped that Trump had turned the room into “a pot o’ gold” (Irish accent included), referring to the golden decorations on the walls and fireplace that have been a source of comedy material for the president’s critics during his second term. 

After showing the exchange about Connolly’s criticism, Colbert said: “Okay, first of all, the president of Ireland is a woman. Second, calling an Irish person lucky is just another racist stereotype.”

The studio audience laughed and applauded. 

Colbert jumped back in to say, “I’m Irish, okay?”

He continued: “My family’s Irish. It’s like saying we’re all pale, we all drink whiskey and have ten siblings and make our children listen to sad poetry. Oh god, that’s me.”

More laughter. 

On a more serious note, over on this side of the Atlantic, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has heavily criticised Martin for not stepping to defend President Connolly, as he did when Trump took aim at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

“The only person Micheál Martin sought to strongly defend today was British Prime Minister Keir Starmer,” Cairns said in a statement.

“He made a point of attempting to firmly rebuff some of Trump’s attacks on him. 

“However, when Trump mistakenly thought our own President was a man, Micheál Martin failed to correct the record.”

On the illegality of the war itself, Cairns said Martin had missed an opportunity to present the views of the people of Ireland. 

“The Taoiseach remained almost entirely mute as Trump went on a tirade, spreading misinformation to defend his illegal war in Iran.

“When he finally did interject, he gave the impression that Ireland had no issue with Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran – a flagrant breach of international law.”