Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, was in Washington D.C. for a few events to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. His visit included breakfast with Vice President Mike Pence, lunch at the Capitol and a special meeting with President Donald Trump, where the Irish Prime Minister would present a bowl of shamrocks to the president, according to The Washington Post.
But in the midst of all of these events, there were a few mishaps that left the Irish unhappy.
It all began when Pence hosted the Irish Prime Minister at his home for breakfast, where in front of a room full of Irish guests, Pence said, “Top of the morning,” the Post reports.
The problem? “Top of the morning” really isn’t a thing—it’s more of a “cringe-worthy, mildly offensive Irish cliche,” according to the Post.
The mishaps continued even through Thursday’s Friends of Ireland luncheon at the Capitol. At the luncheon, Trump said this: “As we stand together with our Irish friends, I’m reminded of that proverb — and this is a good one, this is one I like, I’ve heard it for many, many years and I love it. ‘Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you,’” Trump said.
Many took to social media again to point out that this was not an Irish proverb. In fact, some even found that this supposed proverb was actually from a poem by a Nigerian poet.
With all due respect to the president’s reputation for scrupulously checking his sources, I don’t think this is an Irish proverb. https://t.co/1EvGGMsE9r
— The Irish For (@theirishfor) March 16, 2017
Trump’s Irish poet, Albashir Adam Alhassan, is Nigerian. Also, a proverb is not a poem. #ArtFunding #IrishProverb #IrishLiterature
— amy (@aharbo) March 16, 2017
While Trump never actually said the proverb was Irish, a White House spokeswoman told The Hill that the proverb was included in an email by the State Department containing some information that could be used during the event. It’s unclear why they would have included the proverb specifically for this event.
The most despicable moment of all, however, was when House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled out a pint of Guinness. According to the Post, any Guinness enthusiast knows that the Irish beer should be topped with a thick, white foam, and this simply was not the case here.
First Mike Pence says ‘top of the morning’, then Paul Ryan holds up this appalling pint, grave missteps by the US pic.twitter.com/U4ktqf0Aag
— Naomi O’Leary (@NaomiOhReally) March 16, 2017
But to make matters worse, Trump tweeted out a St. Patrick’s day greeting to the Irish in Irish Gaelic, and unfortunately, misspelled one of the words, The Huffington Post reports.
Happy Lá Fheile Phadraig to all of my great Irish friends!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
@realDonaldTrump You spelt it wrong…’Lá Fhéile Pádraig’
— Lorcan O’Connor (@LorcanOConnor2) March 17, 2017
It’s probably safe to say that luck was not on their side. (Bad joke, I know.)