Conservatives

Conor McGregor has announced his bid to become Ireland’s President just days after a controversial trip to the White House.

The MMA fighter, who was found to have raped a woman in a civil case in November in Dublin, announced his plans with an Instagram post which sees him standing in front of a private jet and wearing a Make Ireland Great Again cap.

The post comes just days after McGregor spoke of an 'illegal immigration racket ravaging our country' at the White House.

On Instagram, McGregor wrote: ‘Ireland must fully implement the EU Migration Pact by June 12, 2026.

‘So between now and 12 June 2026, several pieces of legislation have to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas & then signed by the President.

‘The next presidential election must take place by 11 Nov 2025. Who else will stand up to Government and oppose this bill?

‘Any other Presidential candidate they attempt to put forward will be of no resistance to them. I will!

‘For clarity also, as President, I would put forth this bill to referendum.

‘Although I oppose greatly this pact, it is neither mine nor governments choice to make. It is the people of Irelands choice! Always! That is a true democracy!'

Earlier today, McGregor posted on X: 'Ireland, the choice is yours and it is an easy one. Vote for me as your President and we will SAVE IRELAND TOGETHER!'

On Monday, ahead of a press conference with Donald Trump, McGregor told an audience that Ireland was close to 'potentially losing its Irishness', laying into the Irish government as an administration of 'zero action with zero accountability'.

'Our money is being spent on overseas issues that is nothing to do with the Irish people,' he said.

McGregor's invitation to the White House came after Donald Trump last week singled out the sportsman as one of his favourite Irish people.

Conor McGregor praised Donald Trump's 'work ethic' as 'inspiring' when they finally met on Monday.

The pair posed for photos, clasping hands, and shared light comments in front of a map of the Gulf of Mexico, labelled as the Gulf of America, in the Oval Office.

Ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in the briefing room: 'We couldn't think of a better guest to have with us on St Patrick's Day'.

Republicans made themselves into “Christian libertarians” in order to get along with Leftists, effectively producing the groundwork for the uniparty. As part of this gesture, they praise Leftist ideals like equality while demanding a mere handful of libertarian and conservative notions like free markets.

These positions represent a retreat, not a forward step, which is why they are always styled in moral terms rather than practical ones. The secret to conservatism is that it works better than any other method, and ironically, produces as much of what Leftists want — except subsidies — as can be done in nature.

Many contemporary conservatives adopt cope-hope tropes that they hope seem bold enough to attract an audience. One of these is praise of Calvin Coolidge for doing nothing but reducing government, but this glosses over how Coolidge paired paleoconservative libertarianism with 1870s progressivism to continue the civil war legacy:

Coolidge was also a visionary who championed equal rights. Shortly after assuming office in 1923, he declared to Congress that the rights of African Americans were “as sacred as those of any other people” and that it was both a “public and private duty to safeguard those rights.”

He advocated for anti-lynching legislation but was blocked by congressional Democrats. Coolidge’s opposition to racism and prejudice saw millions leave the KKK, and the lynching of blacks decreased. His central piece of Civil Rights legislation was the granting of U.S. Citizenship to Native Americans living on reservations.

Civil rights replaced natural rights. The latter were designed to restrict government by making its ideological reach untenable, and were paired with a Naturalization Act that demanded only ethnic Western Europeans in the country. Civil rights make government all-powerful.