Playing a round with Donald John: Trump Inc rolls into Scotland

So what?

It is meant to be a “private” visit, but there is no such thing for a man who blurs the line between business and politics. The president returns to his maternal homeland with his profile as high as it has ever been. This has consequences locally, as Trump is met by communities who have lukewarm feelings towards him; nationally, as Scottish police work to keep him safe with their biggest security operation since the death of the Queen; and internationally as the president tries to get some downtime amid a deepening hunger crisis in Gaza and questions over his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Scotland's saviour

Trump bought the Aberdeenshire site in 2006 and promised to build the world’s greatest golf course. Then a humble hotelier, he said it would be a £1bn development. Some residents refused to sell their land and Trump famously accused a farmer, Michael Forbes, of living in a “pig-like atmosphere”. Forbes recently restated his position to the New York Times: “There’s no way I’m ever going to sell.”

Gimme

Scottish ministers gave the nod to the development in the belief that the economic benefit would outweigh the environmental harm. Trump said he would create up to 6,000 jobs with a 450-room hotel, sports complex, holiday apartments, two golf courses and 500 houses.

By the numbers

Most of these plans haven’t come to fruition. The venture has never turned a profit, and the sand dunes have lost their special environmental status. The resort’s former project director told the BBC last year that Scotland had been “hoodwinked”.

• £100 million: the amount of money the Trump Organization previously said it spent on the site against a promised £1bn.
• £37.2 million: the resort’s net book value.
• 84: the average number of people employed. They collectively earned £2,138,804 in wages in 2023, equivalent to about £25,000 each.

For the record

Trump International Scotland has said in the past that it invested hundreds of millions into the country’s economy and built “one of the greatest modern links golf courses of all time”. Many professionals do like it.

On the green

Although Trump is scheduled to meet the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer on Monday, and the Scottish first minister, John Swinney, the main event is a visit to his new MacLeod course – named after his late mother.

Family ties

Mary Anne MacLeod was born in the village of Tong on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. She spoke Scots Gaelic before emigrating to New York when she was 18. Her father ran a post office on the island. Trump’s late older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, visited Lewis dozens of times. The president has been twice, as a child and again in 2008.

Get tae

He is known there as Donald John, a nickname that is not rooted in local pride. More than 70% of Scottish people have an unfavourable opinion of Trump. His last presidential visit, in 2018, led to a series of demonstrations.

On your dime

That time, Trump was in Britain on a working visit. More than 5,000 police officers were deployed, with the Treasury paying £5m to help cover costs. An operation of even greater scale, costing £10m, is under way.

Par for the course

Young Scots view Trump more favourably than older people, who have a longer memory of his dealings in the country. The MacLeod course will form part of the Trump International Golf Links, which was opened in 2012 after a contentious planning battle.

To note

Trump’s love affair with the resort has had global repercussions as the origin of his hostility towards renewable energy. He fought an unsuccessful legal battle to halt a wind farm that overlook the greens. It still smarts. “Stop the windmills,” Trump said on touching down in Prestwick. “You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they’re stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans.”

Further links

Trump also plans to visit Turnberry, his second golf resort, on the Ayrshire coast. He bought it in 2014 and is keen for it to host the Open championship. Whitehall officials have reportedly asked organisers whether this could happen, after repeated requests from Trump.

Just let me golf

The Turnberry course was a distressed asset when Trump acquired it from the government of Dubai. Yet despite a remodel of the 18 holes and a refurbishment of the hotel – check out the 500-seat “Donald Trump ballroom” – the place still makes a loss. Other irritations include:

• locals with long memories for the dire traffic around the 2009 Open;
• the R&A stresses the “logistical challenges” of the narrow roads;
• anxiety over whether politics will overshadow sport: in March, Palestine Action daubed red paint on the clubhouse.

Excuse the absence

The Wall Street Journal has had its access revoked for the trip. This followed a report that Trump once wrote a lurid birthday message for the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump denies the claim and is suing the newspaper for £10bn.

What’s more…

That sum is a reminder of the difference between the president’s modest ancestral history and his life now. His return to Scotland sees him trying to reconcile the two.

Photograph by Robert Perry/PA Wire