Wow. That kind of tracks, too, with the northern ireland life and times survey about people who say they have to deal with paramilitaries in their area (can't remember exact wording of the question)

“The extreme right... The amount of resources behind them and the amount of power that they hold within the political establishment of their party is absolutely asymmetrical."

- @melissaryan.bsky.social

It's great isn't it?! And I love the shout out to Adolph Reed

In an age where money saturates politics, and self interest drives so much of what happens in Washington DC, the Irish America lobby did something quite remarkable. It did a good, big thing without greasing the wheels.

This was no small feat. American politics was & still is deeply polarized. Getting 2 presidents and a divided congress to agree meant building bi-partisan support. They did that! Chaos at No. 10 was also its own sh*t show to navigate. But they found the Tory weak spot & effectively exploited it 9/

But in the absence of a clear policy, Irish America made sure the US govt. understood the threats Brexit posed to the agreement & encouraged Congress to use a bilateral trade deal (which Brexiters desperately wanted) as leverage. Drop the hard border & we'll negotiate. Bring it back, no deal 8/

At the time, the Republic of Ireland didn't want the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Successive Tory governments flirted with doing just that. Normally, the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK would mean British interests took precedence over Irish ones. 7/

Instead of political contributions, today's Irish America relied on networks and street cred to push the political levers of power inside the US. When Brexit happened, the US didn't have a clear policy on where it should stand in a spat between 2 allies (Ireland and the UK). 6/

It took some time, but these folks got reengaged. Irish America today is best seen as an eminent person's group, comprised of a few, well placed members in Congress/the executive branch, and so called formers (e.g. special envoys, diplomats, members of congress). 5/

In 2020, we started interviewing key people who'd been involved in lobbying Bill Clinton to push for peace in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s. "Where was Irish America," we asked, "now that Brexit threatened to undermine the agreement?" 4/

By the time Brexit came around, Irish America was no longer an ethnic lobby in the traditional sense. It lacked a key lobbying organization, & few politicians saw Irish Americans as a distinct group to court. Irish Americans still hold their heritage dear, but they no longer vote as a block. 3/

Irish America used to be a powerful lobby. It's signature achievement was getting the US involved in pushing for a peaceful end to Northern Ireland's Troubles. But after 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed, the lobby faded away. 2/

This is bonkers.