Trump criticises Biden visit: 'You could have a third World War and this guy is in Ireland'

James Cox

Donald Trump has criticised US president Joe Biden for visiting Ireland, as he claimed "the world is exploding".

Mr Trump was speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News and was very critical of his successor.

"He's now in Ireland, he's not going to have a news conference... when the world is exploding. I own property in Ireland, I'm not going to Ireland.

"The world is exploding around us, you could end up in a third world war and this guys is going to be in Ireland."

Mr Trump spent a low-key two days in Ireland in June 2019, almost entirely at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare. He met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar briefly in Shannon Airport.

In the Fox interview, he did not mention the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the main reason for Mr Biden's visit.

Mr Trump was also critical of French president Emmanuel Macron in the interview, accusing him of pandering to China's leader Xi Jinping.

"You got this crazy world is blowing up and the United States has absolutely no say. And Macron, who's a friend of mine, is over with China kissing his ass," Mr Trump said.

At the end of his visit last week, Mr Macron called on the European Union to reduce dependence on the United States and cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an "American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction".

As president, Mr Trump upended some tenets of America’s post-World War Two foreign policy by questioning the Nato alliance, alienating European partners and indulging autocrats.

Mr Trump himself was accused of pandering to world leaders, autocrats in particular, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un.

He praised Putin and was famously accused by his 2016 Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton of being "Putin's puppet." He held a summit with Kim in 2018 and declared at a rally with ers that "we fell in love" after exchanging letters. - Additional reporting: Reuters