Joe Biden has said he will support Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal, but will have a hard time convincing unionist hardliners
Joe Biden is the most Irish president since John F. Kennedy, which is why he is not the type of person who can convince the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to support Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal and return to Stormont.
Ten of Mr. Biden's 16 great-great-grandparents are from Ireland, where he is guaranteed an enthusiastic «homecoming» during a state visit Wednesday afternoon.
But he will receive a much cooler welcome when he arrives in Belfast on Tuesday evening, amid celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Biden, a Catholic who is very proud of his Irish roots, will meet with the leaders of Northern Ireland's main political parties on Wednesday.
He will urge the DOJ to return to power-sharing after the party tore apart Stormont more than a year ago because of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
President Biden receives a traditional bowl of shamrock from Leo Varadkar, a Taoiseach Irishman, at the White House in last month Photo: Yury Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg
Mr Sunak struck a deal with the European Union over the Irish Sea border in February, but DUP leader Sir Geoffrey Donaldson demanded more changes before he ends the boycott.
Now Mr. Biden will use his office's best efforts to increase pressure on Sir Geoffrey to restore the autonomous institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement.
DUP top politicians have already warned that they will not give in to the demands of the most powerful man in the world, who has become the object of hatred for hardline trade unionists and loyalists.
Unionists accuse Biden of being on the side of Brussels and Dublin, and of supporting the cause of Irish reunification and republicanism.
When Mr Biden threatened to lose Britain trade deal with the US if the UK follows through on its threat to rip off the Irish Sea border treaty with the EU, the attitude towards this very «green» president has become even more hardened.
Sir Geoffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP, has demanded more changes to the new Brexit deal before he ends the Stormont party boycott. Photo: LORRAINE O'SULLIVAN Love for Ireland
One of the reasons was Mr Biden's outspoken love for Ireland, which extends to publishing a family tree of his Irish ancestors and using the Secret Service code name Celtic.
Once in the Republic, he would visit his ancestral homes in western County Mayo and eastern Loch, the homes of the Blueitts and Finnegans on his mother's side.
Both branches of the family fled famine-ravaged Ireland in search of a better life in the United States around 1851.
Mr. Biden famously said they left in a «coffin ship» because of «what the British were doing.»
There is further evidence of a clear apathy towards the British from a man who has made his Irish heritage the centerpiece of his public persona.
Mr. Biden said his hero is Wolfe Tone, an 18th-century Irishman who was sentenced to death for leading a rebellion against British rule and calls Seamus Heaney his favorite poet.
Members of dissident Republican factions throw firebombs at a police car in Londonderry on Monday. Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg.
As a senator in 1985, Biden opposed and softened an extradition treaty with the UK that would have made life easier. extradite the terrorists from the IRA.
“If you wear orange, you are not welcome here,” he said when welcoming the Irish Prime Minister to the White House in 2015.
Even if Mr Biden were a less proud Irishman, he would have had a hard time convincing Sir Geoffrey to end the boycott and effectively support a new Brexit deal before local elections in May.
The DUP fears waning support for hardline unionists who see the Windsor Framework as cutting off Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
Another bloody nose after the Stormont elections in May, when the DUP lost its status as Northern Ireland's largest party for the first time to Sinn Féin, could mean the end of his leadership.
The psychodrama of unionism is exacerbated by the renewed momentum of Irish reunification following Brexit and last year's census showing Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time in its 100-year history.
Sir Geoffrey is struggling to bridge the divide between his Westminster MPs, who are in favor of extending the boycott, and the Legislative Assembly, who are choosing to return to Stormont after a year-long deadlock that delayed action on the NHS and cost life crisis.
Republican protesters opposed to the Good Friday Agreement take part in the parade on Monday. Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg. anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, he will remember the fate of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), once the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland.
The OLA supported the peace agreement, but was emasculated by a series of defections to the OLA side, including Sir Geoffrey himself, and has since lost its relevance.
The DUP will lose support if it accepts the Windsor Framework, but no Brexit deal will satisfy the most hardline union activists.
Sir Geoffrey now faces the same choice as his old UUP boss, David Trimble: should he be a statesman and compromise but lose his loyalist base?
Even if, as some suspect, Sir Geoffrey intends to eventually accept the deal, he cannot do so under pressure from the President of the United States, whose banner is so firmly nailed to the mast of Ireland.
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