Yesterday, in the Oval Office, while US President Donald Trump was on the phone with Leo Varadkar, the new Taoiseach, to congratulate him on his political success, the President seemed to start flirting with one of the Irish journalists who was there to report on it, Caitriona Perry.
Leo Varadkar was elected to lead the Fine Gael Party at the beginning of the month after Enda Kenny retired and, two weeks ago, Dáil Éireann nominated him to be the Taoiseach, which was later approved by the President of Ireland. Suffice to say, it’s been a heck of a month for Mr.
Varadkar. But Trump appeared to be more interested in complimenting Perry’s “beautiful smile” than complimenting Varadkar’s recent successes.
Trump and Varadkar were discussing political matters when he got distracted
Trump had been talking to the Irish premier about important political matters like migration and Brexit when he got distracted by a “beautiful” reporter who caught his eye with her “nice smile.” He linked Varadkar into it by saying, “Well, we have a lot of your Irish press watching us.” His sights were specifically on Perry, one of the Washington correspondents for RTE (Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the national public service broadcaster for the Republic of Ireland – read: Irish BBC) as he asked her, “And where are you from?”
Perry appeared uncomfortable as Trump told her, “Go ahead.
Come here, come here. Where are you from?” He then told Varadkar, “We have all of this beautiful Irish press,” which was likely a shrewd attempt at a faux-shy, “aw, shucks” flirtation with Perry, but she wasn’t biting. Trump told Varadkar that based on Perry’s “nice smile,” he can assume that “she treats you well.”
He said this because he does not believe that the free press of the United States treats him well, which he would describe as lying and presenting everything he does with a conservative bias, like Fox News, the only US news outlet he likes.
But all the news sources that Trump hates – MSNBC (whose staff he called “bad people”), CNN, The New York Times etc. – are simply calling it as they see it.
Perry described the experience as a ‘bizarre moment’ in her life
Perry posted a video of the experience on Twitter, describing it as a “bizarre moment” in her career. Her social media followers were horrified to see Trump’s behaviour towards her, with some of them describing it as “sexist.” One commenter called the video “kind of creepy,” and suggested that Trump was “being sexist” when he made his comments.
One commented on Instagram asked Perry if she felt as though Trump was “judging you based on your looks.” In an interesting turn of events, the video has been removed from Instagram. Perhaps the white house got in touch with Perry and threatened her with sanctions, since it’s not like they have anything more important to do.
Who is Caitriona Perry?
Caitriona Perry, the Irish reporter with whom Trump was attempting to flirt, has been an RTE correspondent since 2000, according to their website. She’s 37, a whole decade younger than Trump’s wife and First Lady Melania, to whom he claims to be happily married (although her body language at public appearances suggests otherwise).
Perry was the 2015 winner of the National Justice Media Merit Award for TV News and has reported from all over the globe, including Europe, Australia, the United States (obviously), Canada, and Latin America.
She has described working as a news correspondent in Washington as her “dream job,” although after her surreal, uncomfortable encounter with a flirtatious President Trump, she may be calling up her bosses to request a transfer.
