Áine Lawlor: Middle Ireland once looked up to America. Now it's asking what went wrong

Ahead of Donald Trump’s Irish visit, a room of traditionally pro-American voters reveals growing unease about America’s direction

SOFT POWER: Ronald and Nancy Reagan in Ballyporeen, Tipperary, in 1984. Middle-class Ireland has long looked up to the US but Áine Lawlor detects a shift in mood in the Trump era. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

We all know that Donald Trump loves golf. He spends most of his weekends playing on one or other of his 14 golf courses, and he’s coming to Ireland next weekend not because he loves us but because of the Irish Open.

Golf is a passion that as many as one in 10 Irish people share with the 47th president of the USA. Just one of ties that bind the American eagle and the shamrock.