Opinion

Posted by Jim on January 5, 2026

Tom Kelly: Steve Bannon should butt out of Ireland with his toxic brand of politics.

The MAGA movement wants to extend its toxicity into Europe. It wants to destroy the EU and mold Europe in its image.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has said he is working on a nationalist party in Ireland.

By Tom Kelly

January 05, 2026 at 6:34am GMT

THE recent passing of two SDLP veterans, Joe Byrne and Mary Bradley, served as a timely reminder that people who took part in peaceful political activism during the worst of times in Northern Ireland did so at great personal risk and sacrifice.

But they also did so without bitterness, rancor, or animosity towards those who were politically opposed to them.

It’s a quality so often missing from the toxicity of modern-day politics.

Politics isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s very much a blood sport.

I have witnessed the best of politics and the worst. The best is inspiring and galvanizing. The worst is depressing and demoralizing.

Joe Byrne and Mary Bradley were of a generational movement which rejected violence, promoted peace, and stood courageously on the front line, armed with nothing but their resilience and resolve.

They demonstrated bravery by owning their actions. They didn’t shy away from the difficult tasks or questions. They needed neither an armalite nor balaclava.

The SDLP had no monopoly on people like Mary or Joe – other parties had them too.

Jim and Joe Hendron (Alliance and SDLP respectively); Michelle Gildernew and Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Féin; the UUP’s Reg Empey and Sylvia Hermon; Sean Neeson and Eileen Bell of Alliance; or Robin Newton and Willie Hay in the DUP. The list is extensive.

The recent decision of Mike Nesbitt to stand down as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (a move anticipated two weeks ago in this column) is further proof that being nice in politics takes its toll.

Those with the hide of a rhinoceros tend to fare better in longevity.

Nesbitt took charge of a party which was impossible to manage and gave it his all.

Politics — not just the UUP — will be poorer without him.

But deep rancour has seeped into our politics, and it’s imported.

The MAGA movement wants to extend its toxicity into Europe. It wants to destroy the EU and mould Europe in its image.

Ironically, the so-called British and Irish patriots who bang on about nationalism, purism, and sovereignty actually want to dissolve British and Irish sovereignty to become subsumed as satellites of the MAGA movement and Trumpism.

They want hand power to powerful financial elites and oligarchs who will profit from taking in the gullible.

Imperialist/Soviet expansionism or fervent nationalism has cost Europe dearly.

Over centuries there have been literally hundreds of wars over disputed borders and territories.

The Great War, the Second World War, and the Cold War nearly ruined Europe.

The EEC, now the EU, was a model for cooperation and lasting peace. It worked.

The Irish peace process itself, as articulated by the late John Hume, was a European model.

Last week, the rather reprehensible and offensive Steve Bannon — one of the architects of MAGA — said he is working to create a ‘national’ party in Ireland.

The last time that happened, it manifested in the Mussolini-light Blueshirts under Eoin O’Duffy.

Those patriots who now want to introduce a form of modern-day para-fascism in Ireland are deluded.

But they are being duped by wealthier, seemingly-respectable arch-conservatives and aging, cantankerous contrarians who are out to feather their own nests or re-create some kind of mythical neo-Catholic state — which even de Valera couldn’t fully achieve.

Bannon should butt out of Irish affairs. The MAGA movement under Trump and his cabinet zealots are out to subvert the Irish economic model and impoverish the nation.

Tom Kelly: Amid all the madness, Pope Leo can keep my glass half full for 2026Opens in new window

Just because the British Brexiters were daft enough to vote to leave the EU and stunt their countries’ economic growth, doesn’t mean Irish people should ape this and, lemming-like, jump off the cliff edge.

The Irish Government has said it will use its presidency influence in the EU to rein in social media excesses by banning anonymous online accounts.

This is overdue. Those who wish to have an opinion can still have it by owning it and not cowardly trolling behind false profiles.

Free speech comes with responsibilities.

If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article and would like to submit a Letter to the Editor to be considered for publication