Irish Examiner view: Micheál Martin must create art of the deal in US

Memories of discussions on a general amnesty; Donnelly visas; pleas from Bertie Ahern — all of these are episodes from the past and we need to start again

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to sit down with US president Donald Trump on Wednesday.  File Picture: Phil Noble/PA

In the book which carries Donald Trump’s name — accounts vary as to how much authorship he contributed — there is one word which has resonated throughout his career.

In The Art of the Deal, published in 1987, Mr Trump is credited with saying: “Leverage. Don’t make deals without it. Enhance.” That philosophy was aggressively to the fore when he told Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you don’t have the cards” and then cut off signals intelligence to the beleaguered Ukrainians.