“It has been pretty insane so far,” says Caitríona Perry, RTÉ’s Washington correspondent, of life on the US Presidential campaign trail.
“You read so much about it and watch it on TV but when you find yourself in the middle of it at a big rally, with thousands cheering, it’s like you’re in a film. Of course, Donald Trump is very negative towards the media so when you are at his rallies he will direct abuse towards us and his supporters will scream in your face. In those moments, you see close-up what politics is truly like in this country.”
On the 2016 campaign trail, she has got close enough (but not too close) to Donald Trump to pitch him a question after the first presidential debate and chewed the fat with supporters from both Republican and Democrat camps. Right now, she believes that the result still hangs in the balance.
“Polls are showing Hillary to be uncatchable but I believe that there are a lot of people who aren’t telling pollsters that they are going to vote for Donald Trump”, she says. “So it is difficult to call this election because the polling is not as reliable as in previous times.
"People are sick of establishment politics, of experts telling them what to do. They want someone new and different, someone who talks about what is affecting them, which is largely economic issues. These people still can’t afford the little luxuries in life and they blame that on politicians who have been in power for a long time. So Trump is fascinating to cover for the way in which he is changing politics in America.”
She is still surprised when her accent alone opens doors in the US.
“Following a Bernie Sanders rally during the primaries, I stopped into a pub diner and the waitress said to me that she had Irish ancestry. ‘My God, I never met a real-life Irish person before so this is an amazing day for me!’ That just floored me, that our nation has such a reputation abroad. Living over here makes you very proud to be Irish.”
Read Catriona Perry's full interview in this week's RTÉ Guide!
