Radio: Overplaying the Trump card to a surreal degree

Donald Trump is embroiled in a row with various US sports stars and team owners.

I shouldn't know this. I don't want to know. It has literally zero bearing on my life; or yours, unless you're American, a gridiron fan and reading this online. (In which case, go Patriots.) And yet I do know this. Because radio insists on me knowing it.

The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, Mon-Fri 9am) talked about Trump's latest meltdown/imbroglio this week. So did Matt Cooper on The Last Word (Today FM, Mon-Fri 4.30pm). So did Today with Sean O'Rourke (Radio 1, Mon-Fri 10am). So did the sports shows. So did a big bunch of other programmes.

This was saturation coverage - so much so that one US-based Irish reporter, Marion McKeone, appeared on two different shows, across different stations, to discuss it. That's how hungry radio was for more, more, more.

Moaning about the media's obsession with Trump, and America in general, is a common theme in this column. (Indeed, it's one of my most cherished pastimes.) So, you know, this ain't a new phenomenon here. But I wonder if, this week, we reached some sort of Peak America-Obsession on Irish radio.

The current Trump snafu isn't, all things considered, that big a deal. Sure, if you live in the States, matters like racial tension, police shootings and an apparently deranged leader of the nation - they're important to you.

But from an Irish perspective, how is any of this relevant to us? Green cards, American multinationals coming here, possible obliteration of the planet in a nuclear holocaust: these are relevant. The chief jefe of another country, rowing with sports stars and team owners: that's not.

And neither, for that matter, is racial tension, police shootings and an apparently deranged leader (unless his actions affect the aforementioned green cards, multinationals, obliteration of the planet, etc, etc).

Of course, as a human you feel sympathy and empathy. And it's good to know what's going on in the world. But covering a stupid row, in another country, to this ubiquitous extent, is almost surreally inexplicable.

Media - radio especially - is infatuated with America, to an embarrassing degree. More than that, they love Trump. Broadcasters affect a pursed-lip tone of disapproval whenever they talk about him, but I swear to God, they love the guy. They dislike him but they love what he brings to the game. They wouldn't know what to do without him.

You can hear it, every time someone tees up an "after the break" segment on Trump: they sound so excitable, almost giddy, like schoolchildren about to share a naughty story. "We'll be hearing from Washington about what Trump got up to last night! Yuk yuk yuk."

Oh give it a rest. Nobody cares but you. I honestly believe that: outside of news junkies and political wonks and America-fetishists and weirdoes who spend all their time on Twitter arguing about things that have nothing to do with them, nobody cares.

I don't mean they're callously uncaring about others' suffering. They're simply indifferent. They're neutral.

To the average Irish person - and by extension, your audience - this stuff has nothing to do with them. Or at least, nothing more than any other bad thing happening somewhere else around the world.

And in fact, I suspect that many are like me: we're actively sick of hearing about Trump. We're sick of news stories from America, all the bloody time, every little thing that ever occurs over there. We're bored of it, and we're bored by you.

So give it a rest, for God's sake. Enough, enough, enough.