Brian Thomas

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”

(The Man in the Arena speech, 1910)

By Brian Thomas

Conor McGregor’s White House Visit Has Changed Ireland’s Political Landscape

Conor McGregor’s unexpected rise as the voice of Ireland’s anti-mass migration electorate has not just rocked the Anglosphere and beyond. It has also sent shivers of new hope through Europe’s huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Especially for Ireland’s young men.

Expectations for the nascent “Make Ireland Great Again” and ending mass migration have just increased. Managing those expectations will be crucial if McGregor is to win a nomination and the national election. He must pull in voters from across the political spectrum and keep the media focused on mass migration. He will need robust and effective allies at home and in the US if he is to succeed.

Conor McGregor’s triumphant Saint Patrick’s Day reception at the White House left the Irish PM out in the cold, marking a new era of how global politics are conducted.

While conservatives celebrate the McGregor Gambit, it has sparked furious reactions and teeth-grinding among the legacy media and political grandees on both sides of the Atlantic.

My favorite screed must be from The Guardian, always lurking in the shadows, seething with hatred of all things McGregor, MAGA and MIGA, one that only men who’ve never given or taken a punch can muster.

“Condemned,” the headline pronounces predictably, as if they had finally doomed Mr.McGregor themselves to the gallows for the high crime of public temerity.

I can picture the paper’s keyboard warriors crowning themselves with flowery garlands of self-adulation as they take their digital poke at Conor McGregor.I can picture the paper’s keyboard warriors crowning themselves with flowery garlands of self-adulation as they take their digital poke at Conor McGregor.

But it’s more than McGregor they are aiming at. The MMA master is a proxy for what Ireland’s political class and the media echo chamber they fund fear:

Hundreds of thousands of young Irish men emulating a rugged fighter who battled his way out of poverty. For these youth he’s a worthy champion. One not from an antiseptic world of screens and pixels, but a primal one of bare knuckles, blood and sweat. Your own and that of The Vanquished at at your feet in the arena.

Ireland’s Current Power Structure hates this adjulation, especially when the emulators are young, working class and male.

Irish men under twenty-five consistently vote more conservatively than any other demographic.

Young Irish men are increasingly aspiring to be like McGregor rather than his detractors.

The loudest of those detracors has declared himself the Über-Dad Of Ireland even though he is childless. Former Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has decided it is high time to admonish Ireland and a big part of America’s male population on Instagram:

“Good Irish dads teach their sons to detest men like Conor and their daughters to avoid men like him. Irish America knows this.”

“Detest” is a word we try to avoid in our house. It’s overused and weak.

Maybe Leo should have come right out and said, “Hate.”

“Good Irish dads teach their sons to hate men like Conor … .” may have been more honest and to the point.

His diatribe betrays a hatred for all things Irish that’sa curious current in Irish public discourse when it comes to Conor McGregor and mass migration.

Hatred of the Irish appears to run through Ireland’s own public policies as well. Dangerously, it’s infecting the future.

Hate the Conors? That’s a lot of manfolk to hate on. The number at about two million in Ireland alone and 15 million in the USA.

Hating so many men must be exhausting. And socially corrosive.

The institutional injustice it fosters towards the indigenous has long been well documented in the neighboring UK. A two-tier hate system to match the two-tier justice system.

But it’s more than McGregor they are aiming at. The MMA master is a proxy for what Ireland’s political class and the media echo chamber they fund fear:

Hundreds of thousands of young Irish men emulating a rugged fighter who battled his way out of poverty. For these youth he’s a worthy champion. One not from an antiseptic world of screens and pixels, but a primal one of bare knuckles, blood and sweat. Your own and that of the conquered at your feet.

Ireland’s Current Power Structure hates the prospect, especially when those boys and young men are working class.

Irish men under twenty-five consistently vote more conservatively than any other demographic.

With their numbers growing daily, young Irish men are increasingly looking up to Conor McGregor as a role model, aspiring to be like him and not his detractors.

The loudest of those haters has declared himself the Uber Dad Of Ireland even though he is childless. Former Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has decided it is high time to admonish Ireland and a big part of America’s male population on Instagram:

“Good Irish dads teach their sons to detest men like Conor and their daughters to avoid men like him. Irish America knows this.”

“Detest” is a word we try to avoid in our house.

Maybe Leo should have come right out and said, “Hate.”

“Good Irish dads teach their sons to hate men like Conor … .” may have been more honest and to the point.

Hatred for all things Irish is a curious current that runs through Irish public discourse when it comes to discussing Conor McGregor and mass migration.

And sadly, hatred of the Irish runs through Ireland’s own public policies as well. Dangerously, it’s infecting the future.

Hate the Conors? That’s a lot of manfolk. The number at about two million in Ireland alone and 15 million in the USA.

Hating so many men must be exhausting.

It never adds up . Hatred for me, but not for thee. A two-tier hate system to match the two-tier justice system.   

So how am I, an Irish-American descendent of some of the survivors of the Great Irish Famine, supposed to respond to the above comments by the former Prime Minister of Ireland?

It’s more of a command that a comment. The connotation is:

“If you so much as like Conor you are one of The Destestables.”

What a relief I’m not a Tesla. I’d be set on fire.

So here’s my response to Leo:

“Dear Leo, I‘m the most Irish-American dad you’d like to meet, and much of the ‘Irish America knows‘ I’m familiar with would rather have a pint with Conor than with you.

No offense intended.

And suppose it was up to me to have a play date with my children, and the McGregor or you, with all due respect, I’m sure we’d find a large trampoline for all that childish energy at the McGregor household before we’d find one at yours.

Leo, McGregor is a good choice for young men testing their boundaries of courage and discipline. Better in the ring or in the dojo than out on the streets.

There are no newly imported knife wielders on the mat, you know.

How many of them were brought in by you and your successors with the help of USAID and EU Migration Pact funding? Your silence is a library.

Next Saint Patrick’s Day, Leo, you can join us in prayer for Ireland instead of spreading accusations about a man you deign to sit in judgment over.

“For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
— Matthew 7:2 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

VIBE SHIFT ARRIVES IN IRELAND

Will Conor make it to the Irish President’s office?

It’s looking like a far shot right now, but the vibe shift in America is coming in red across the Atlantic.

Mr.McGregor might be trying to improve his chances by rustling up Silicon Valley support like Trump managed.

Imagine an Irish DOGE run by one of the many talented Irish tech savants?

Now that would be a sight.

You know the solution does not rest with any one man.

No matter how much he can rally support, appoint star talent or lay out a vision

Reclaiming our culture, our government and our destiny is OUR job.

It will be done by the man in the arena.

Be that man.

Or do your damnedest to help him.

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Copyright Brian William Thomas/All rights reserved. 2025