Trump flees Washington controversies for golf-heavy trip to Scotland
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Fleeing Washington's oppressive humidity and nonstop questions over heated controversies, President Donald Trump is once again taking weekend refuge at his golf clubs — this time more than 3,000 miles away in Scotland.
While the White House has called his five-day trip a 'working visit,' it's fairly light on the formal itinerary. Trump is poised to hold trade talks Sunday with the chief of the European Union and is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday.
But he's expected to spend most of his trip out of public view at two of his golf resorts – Trump Turnberry in the west and Trump International about 200 miles away in the north, near his mother's ancestral homeland.
'We have a lot of things in Scotland,' Trump said as he left the White House on Friday, noting his familial ties to the land. 'I have a lot of love.'
Even with protesters threatening to disrupt the visit, Trump's four nights in temperate Scotland come as a summertime respite after six months back in office. His administration is engulfed in a deepening political crisis over its handling of disclosures around the case of Jeffrey Epstein, accused sex trafficker and former friend of the president's.
Nearly every time Trump has spoken with reporters in recent weeks, he's been pressed with new questions about the Epstein scandal, many of which are fueled by deep suspicions that he and his followers have been stirring for years. New revelations about his personal ties to the disgraced financier have kept the matter alive.
The Scotland trip schedule allows Trump to focus instead on areas where he's more comfortable: trade deals, his family businesses and golf. Trump often speaks fondly of his ties to Scotland, the birthplace of his late mother, though the feeling has been far from mutual — his development of luxury golf resorts over the last two decades has ignited objections from many local residents. Thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets here in 2018 during his first presidential visit.
The centerpiece of this trip is a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday for a new 18-hole golf course in Aberdeenshire on the windswept coast of the North Sea. It's named the MacLeod Course in honor of Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born in 1912 outside of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
She left for New York in 1930 at the age of 18, emigrating to the United States following World War I. She married Fred C. Trump, the son of German immigrants, in 1936 and died in 2000. A black and white photograph of her sits prominently behind the president's desk in the Oval Office.
Authorities in Scotland have spent weeks preparing for Trump's arrival. Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond told reporters the security operation would be the largest the country has mounted since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, including local officers, national security divisions and special constables.
The overall tone toward Trump has been markedly less fond, however. The Friday edition of The National, a liberal-leaning newspaper that supports Scottish independence, rolled out a not-so-welcoming message to Trump with a blaring and bold front-page headline: 'Convicted US Felon to Arrive in Scotland.'
A group called Stop Trump Scotland, a coalition of demonstrators, said it planned to organize protests at Aberdeen and outside the US consulate in Edinburgh as part of a 'Festival of Resistance.' Photographs of a sign outside one of his golf clubs that said 'Twinned with Epstein Island' were circulated online and published in UK newspapers.
As he left the White House on Friday, Trump made no mention of the disapproval awaiting him. He said he eagerly anticipated meeting left-leaning Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has been an outspoken critic and last year endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
'He's a good man,' Trump told reporters. 'I look forward to meeting him.'
With trade talks intensifying, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced Friday that she planned to meet with Trump in Scotland on Sunday 'to discuss transatlantic trade relations and how we can keep them strong.'
Trump said earlier there was a '50-50' chance he would reach a trade deal with the EU, adding as he departed for Scotland that his administration was 'working very diligently' with Europe.
Trump's meeting with von der Leyen — whom he has not yet hosted at the White House — comes as the EU rushes to clinch a trade deal with its largest trading partner that would stave off a threatened 30% tariff set to take effect August 1.
In the past, Trump has adopted a hostile attitude toward the European Union, claiming it was formed to 'screw' the United States. He has maintained a somewhat distant relationship with von der Leyen, who was close to former President Joe Biden, adding another complexity to their Sunday meeting.
'That would be, actually, the biggest deal of them all if we make it,' Trump said of a potential agreement with the European Union after he landed in Scotland Friday.
It's the first visit Trump has made to the country since 2023, when he broke ground on the golf course dedicated to his mother. But returning this weekend as the sitting American president has roused critics, including Green Party leader and member of parliament, Patrick Harvie.
'Donald Trump is a convicted criminal and political extremist,' Harvie told reporters in Scotland this week. 'There can be no excuses for trying to cozy up to his increasingly fascist political agenda.'
While golf is the primary item on Trump's weekend schedule, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the trip as 'a working visit that will include a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Starmer to refine the historic US-UK trade deal.'
Starmer has worked to develop a warm relationship with Trump, visiting him at the White House in February and holding conversations since then on trade, military support for Ukraine and other global challenges. It's paid off, at least somewhat — Starmer is one of a handful of country leaders who have secured a trade deal with Trump.
The deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, officials said, is expected to be among the topics discussed, but British officials have generally been working to lower expectations for the Monday meeting, suggesting it is a prelude to an official state visit in September. Trump is set to return to the United Kingdom at the invitation of King Charles III for a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle. He was hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 at Buckingham Palace.
'This is really special,' Starmer said in February when he extended the invitation to Trump in a letter from the King. 'This has never happened before, this is unprecedented.'
The Scotland visit is the fifth international trip Trump has taken since returning to office. He briefly visited Rome for Pope Francis' funeral in April, toured the Middle East in May, met with G7 leaders in Canada and attended a NATO summit in the Hague in June.
'President Trump's affinity for Scotland is real, regardless of what people think of his politics,' Anas Sarwar, the Labour Party leader in Scotland wrote in an April essay in The Times of London. 'His family's investments in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire are real and significant.'
This is the first trip overseas that is built nearly entirely around a weekend of golf.
For a president who repeatedly railed against his predecessors for golfing – and called last week on the Republican Senate to cancel its annual August recess and 'long weekends' to keep working on his agenda – Trump hits the links without apology, no matter the season.
From his regular winter visits to two of his courses in Florida to his spring and summer trips to his clubs in Virginia and New Jersey, seldom does a weekend go by that Trump doesn't spend time at one of his golf courses or resorts.
On this trip, Trump is scheduled to spend three nights at Trump Turnberry, a luxury resort that he has owned since 2014 on the west coast, overlooking the Irish Sea.
'It's the best resort in the world, I think,' Trump boasted of his club.
He will also spend one night at his course in Aberdeenshire, on the northern coast, and take part in the only public event expected on his itinerary: a dedication ceremony for a second 18-hole course.
The president voiced optimism that one day the British Open would return to Turnberry. It was last held at Trump's course on the Scottish west coast in 2009, five years before Trump purchased the resort.
'I think they will do that,' Trump said Friday. 'Turnberry is rated the No. 1 course in the world.'
The organizers of the Open have said concerns over lack of hotel space and some local road infrastructure challenges have prevented the championship from being played there. Politics is also at play, which was underscored by a full-page advertisement in the National newspaper on Friday that urged the public to sign a petition against it.
'Don't let the divisiveness of Donald Trump hijack and overshadow this great event,' the advertisement said. 'Do the right thing. Don't give The Open to Trump Turnberry.'
Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
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