JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK: 6,000 cops, miles of steel and the dog walkers baffled by the most expensive round of golf EVER!
The trip takes in a prestigious west coast course and a round on a newly complete east coast one, with the last word in luxury accommodation a short walk from the first tee at each.
But no long weekend on the fairways in Scotland has ever looked quite like this one.
This one has commandeered almost a third of Police Scotland's manpower to make sure things go smoothly.
This one had officers in high viz vests swarming over greens, tees, fairways and rough hours before the holidaymaker even boarded his flight from Washington DC.
It had police with dogs, on horseback and even officers on quad bikes as they patrolled a mile-long expanse of empty beach which they have closed off to the public.
It even had a security tower with police sharp shooters atop it.
US President Donald Trump is a man partial to superlatives. Well, his sojourn at Turnberry, in Ayrshire, and the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire abounds in them.
It is surely the most expensive golfing trip on these isles ever contemplated. How many others involved flying in a motorcade by military jet days in advance?
Further preparations have included throwing up rings of steel around the Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire courses and accommodation - all of which, of course, the vacationing president happens to own.
Rounds were still being played by regular golfers (albeit paying up to £1,000 a time) at Turnberry yesterday. But the golf was happening behind miles of newly erected 10ft fences with ultra-fine mesh, and only after rigorous ID and vehicle checks.
On the tee of the third hole, which lies closest to a stretch of shore still accessible to the public, the foursomes hitting their drives were easily outnumbered by police patrols.
Nor, surely, has any golfing weekend boasted the epic supporting cast of this one. Up to 6,000 police officers - many drafted in from forces outside Scotland - are on some form of Trump detail this weekend.
They were arriving at Turnberry yesterday not by the traditional vanload but by the coachload - three in the space of four minutes.
And let us not forget the protesters. Thousands of them are expected to make the extent of their displeasure felt in Edinburgh and Aberdeen this weekend - while others hope to do so within shouting distance at his golf courses.
Also among the bit part players are Prime Minister Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney, both of whom will be afforded audiences with Mr Trump - one in each of his Scottish residences - over the next few days.
There was a time during his days as a mere billionaire tycoon when a Trump visit to one of his Scottish properties brought a splash of colour and a smattering of press to the local area.
It would bring his private jet - a 727 - with the Trump name emblazoned on the fuselage in gold lettering.
Today, as president, he arrives in Air Force One - and brings those same areas to a standstill.
'We came here for a quiet life,' says Bill Fletcher, 73, who moved to Turnberry from Stratford Upon Avon a year ago.
'But there's just so much security and it arrived here so early. We can't get on the beach to walk the dog. I suppose you have to expect it for the most important person in the world - or someone who thinks he is.'
His view of the president is likely similar to many of the householders in this upmarket enclave of detached houses and holiday homes. 'I don't like some of his policies and he can be quite unpredictable,' he says. 'But he's got some things right and I wish we were as firm here as he is.'
Along the road in the Balkenna Tearoom, staff were bracing themselves for protesters mobbing their carpark as they did during Mr Trump's last presidential visit in 2018.
'We've a sign up saying 'patrons only' this time,' says a waitress. 'It's going to be pandemonium.'
On his visit during his first term as president, a protester managed to fly an aircraft trailing an anti-Trump banner over the Ailsa championship course.
This time around, you cannot fly so much as a kite or model aeroplane in the area. Don't even think about a drone or a balloon. 'No Fly Zone' signs dotted all around advise people seeing anyone attempting to do so to call 999.
And yet, here at least, the disruption is met with a degree of understanding. It is less than a year since there was an attempt on Mr Trump's life on a golf course.
The gunman hid in shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Weeks earlier, on the campaign trail he was hit in the ear by a sniper's bullet.
'I don't like him personally but I suppose we have to put up with it, and it doesn't happen very often,' says David Browning, 84, who lives a few hundred yards from the Turnberry clubhouse.
'And I've got say, he does a lot for Turnberry which was looking pretty tired before he bought it.'
Does he visit the spruced-up hotel much himself?
'Occasionally, but you've got to have lined pockets for that,' Mr Browning said, adding that he hopes the president is successful in bringing the Open championship back to Turnberry - even if it is 'obviously an ego thing'.
There is at least a whiff of suspicion that a key objective of the Trump visit to Scotland may be to lobby for the Open to come to his course. While it remains on governing body the Royal and Ancient's roster for the championship, Turnberry has not played host since the American snapped it up in 2014 - something that clearly eats at the president.
A less cynical interpretation of the visit - described as 'private' by the White House - would have Mr Trump making a long awaited return to a land that is undeniably dear to him and in which he has invested heavily.
His mother Mary Anne MacLeod was from the Hebridean isle of Lewis. On this visit he is due to open his second golf course in Aberdeenshire, the New Course, which will include a new memorial garden to honour his mother with a centrepiece that will be made from stone imported from Lewis.
Massive security measures were already in place at that Trump facility yesterday, days ahead of the president's arrival.
In the early hours, a deer was an early casualty in the operation. It had to be euthanised after being knocked down by a police vehicle patrolling the Trump estate.
Both his Scottish properties have been targeted by protesters in recent months. Activists daubed red paint over much of the Turnberry resort in March. The president described them as 'terrorists' who 'did serious damage and will hopefully be treated harshly'.
In Aberdeenshire, meanwhile, a placard this week proclaimed the estate was 'twinned with Epstein Island' - a reference to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein whose relationship with Mr Trump is under renewed scrutiny.
Protests in Edinburgh are expected to target the US Consulate, which the Trump administration has threatened with closure.
Alena Ivanova, a campaigner with the Stop Trump Coalition said: 'Donald Trump may shake hands with our leaders, but he's no friend of Scotland.
'We, the people of Scotland, see the damage he has done - to democracy and working people in the US, to the global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, to the very principles of justice and humanity.
'Trump is not welcome because he represents all that Scottish people reject.'
She certainly did not speak for everyone.
Jackie McDowall posted online that her six-year-old son Ricky was 'desperate' to see the President and his motorcade making their way to Turnberry.
She wrote: 'Right, so obviously I know nobody's going know exactly where Donald Trump is going be etc, but does anyone know roughly his route to Turnberry and time or anything?
'I've a wee six year old desperate just for a tiny wee glimpse of the President or even his entourage.
'Ideally he would like to meet the man himself have a quick chat and at least get to shake his hand.'
That, certainly, was what Scottish Secretary Ian Murray was waiting to do on the tarmac at Prestwick Airport last night.
Where exactly it goes from there, who can tell?
The president's long weekend in Scotland has begun. It will, naturally, be the biggest ever - and possibly the maddest.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘The war needs to end': Is the US right turning on Israel?
As the Israel-Gaza war nears its two-year mark, and as images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right's typically iron-clad support for Israel. The US continues to support Israel diplomatically and militarily, and last Thursday pulled out of peace negotiations that it accused Hamas of sabotaging. And in the US Congress, only two Republicans voted for a recent amendment that would have pulled funding for missile defense systems for Israel. Yet the war's duration and human cost, as well as recent Israeli strikes on Christian targets, have spurred modest signs of discontent on the US right. Some conservative commentators have walked back their support for Israel's war; the US's famously Zionist ambassador to Israel rebuked the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and an unresolved rift over foreign intervention continues to plague the Maga world. To some extent this mirrors trends in US sentiment overall. A recent CNN poll found a steep decline in US support for Israel since the war started. That drop was most dramatic among respondents who identified as Democrats or independents, but the poll also found that since 2023 the percentage of surveyed Republicans who believe that Israel's actions are justified fell from 68% to 52%. It's highly likely that depictions of starvation in the territory – where 147 people have reportedly starved to death, including 88 children, and nearly one in three people are going multiple days without eating, according to the United Nations – have played a role. On Monday, Donald Trump partly contradicted Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that there is no starvation in Gaza, telling reporters: 'That's real starvation … I see it, and you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved.' Trump made the statement while visiting Britain, where the Daily Express, considered the country's most rightwing mainstream tabloid, recently ran a headline decrying hunger in Gaza: 'FOR PITY'S SAKE STOP THIS NOW.' A recent spate of Israeli attacks on Christian targets in Gaza and the West Bank have also angered some American conservatives. Last Thursday, after an Israeli tank fired on the sole Catholic church in Gaza – killing three people and wounding nine, including a priest – a reportedly upset Trump called Netanyahu to complain. A few days after the church shelling, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, visited Taybeh, a Palestinian Christian town in the West Bank that has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli settlers, who earlier this month set a fire near a fifth-century church. In a statement, Huckabee described the attack as 'an absolute travesty' and 'an act of terror' and called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. (He did not directly implicate the Israeli government or settlers.) Although there have long been isolationist and populist elements on the right skeptical of the United States' close alliance with Israel, their point of view has been eclipsed in recent history by the pro-Israel camp, which enjoys strong support among American evangelical Christians. Huckabee is an evangelical Christian who has described himself as an 'unapologetic, unreformed Zionist'. Like many evangelicals, he believes that Israel has a divine claim to the West Bank, and has famously declared that 'there is no such thing as a Palestinian.' That Huckabee issued such a strong statement on Taybeh 'was surprising,' Todd Deatherage said. Deatherage is the co-founder of Telos, a non-profit that works to give US policymakers and religious groups a more nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Huckabee's gesture, he said, seems to indicate 'some complexity in a movement that didn't have complexity around this before'. Sohrab Ahmari, a conservative journalist and commentator, described Huckabee's statement as remarkable 'given how much of a kind of Boomer evangelical Huckabee is'. Huckabee also recently called for Israel to 'aggressively investigate' the murder of Sayfollah 'Saif' Musallet, a Palestinian American man who was recently beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank, according to his family. The events abroad also seem to have made ripples in the US conservative media sphere. The Israeli government said that the church strike was a battlefield mistake, but in a recent episode of his talk show, Michael Knowles, a rightwing American pundit, expressed skepticism. 'I've been broadly supportive of the state of Israel,' Knowles, who is Catholic, said in the segment. 'And you're losing me.' The Israeli government 'is really screwing up, is really not playing its cards right', he argued. 'The war needs to come to an end. How long is the war gonna go on?' He added: 'America is the only friend that Israel has on planet Earth. I do not get what the Israeli government is doing here, but I suspect there will be political consequences – as there should be.' Some critics in the comments section of Knowles' video accused him of only noticing deaths in Gaza once the victims were conspicuously Christian. The Free Press, the online publication founded by Bari Weiss to challenge what she describes as an establishment liberal media, recently published an article arguing that although past claims about hunger in Gaza were 'lies', the territory is now rapidly entering a 'real hunger crisis'. The Free Press has generally taken a fervently pro-Israel stance. Similarly, Joe Rogan, the everyman podcaster who threw his support to Trump in the last election, has refused to host Netanyahu on his podcast, the premier's son, Yair Netanyahu, claimed on Friday. And Ross Douthat, the conservative New York Times columnist, published an op-ed on Saturday arguing that Israel's military operation has crossed into being 'unjust'. Although the US right is perceived today as staunchly pro-Israel, recent history is more complicated, Deatherage noted; George HW Bush's Republican administration undertook a political fight with Israel about Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The right's pro-Israel stance really hardened after 9/11, he said, when Christian conservatives and defense hawks embraced the view that the US and Israel were allies against Islamic terror. The modern iteration of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) was founded in 2006 to facilitate US evangelical support for Israel. The organization's membership is significantly larger than Aipac, the pro-Israel organization founded by Jewish Americans. Trump's alliance with the religious right during his first term intensified the political power of Christian Zionism. 'That part of the evangelical movement really gained unprecedented access to being heard,' Deatherage said. Some Christian Zionists, particularly evangelicals, believe there are Biblical justifications for the US supporting Israel. A small subset believe that a showdown between Israel and enemy states could presage the End of Days, Daniel Hummel, a historian of Christian Zionism, said. The recent strike on Iran sparked apocalyptic speculation in some Christian circles, he noted. Yet polling data suggests a generational divide. Younger evangelicals, like younger Americans broadly, are more skeptical of Zionism, and the gap seems to be growing. A 2021 survey by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke found that only 33.6% of American evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 29 supported Israel, down from 69% surveyed in a similar poll in 2018. Research by the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll has found similar shifts among younger evangelicals. 'Younger evangelicals in particular are kind of renegotiating what it means to be a Christian in the public square,' Deatherage said. 'And they're not thrilled by the bargain that the older generation maybe made with politics.' The topic of Christian Zionism came up during a heated episode of Tucker Carlson's talk show, this June, featuring Senator Ted Cruz. Carlson is one of the major faces of an America First camp in the Maga movement that views the American alliance with Israel with increasing suspicion. During the conversation, Cruz cited a Bible verse as one of the reasons that he supports Israel. Carlson responded by testily mocking the notion that foreign policy objectives should be determined by biblical exegesis. On the fringes, criticisms of Israel have sometimes been intertwined with outright antisemitism. The far-right pundit Candace Owens, for example, has often disparaged Israel in conspiratorial terms. Yet skepticism of Israel has also gained some credible intellectual traction on the more mainstream Maga right, particularly among a group of mostly younger conservative activists, political staffers and policy wonks sometimes known in Washington DC as the 'restrainers'. These are generally pro-Trump conservatives who, while not necessarily outright isolationists, believe that the US should protect its own national interests even if this means scaling back – or 'restraining' – allies such as Israel. The term is subjective and contentious, but the Pentagon's policy chief, Elbridge Colby; the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, Mike DiMino; and JD Vance himself are sometimes considered examples. Pro-Israel Republicans and hawks still mostly hold the whip hand, but Deatherage believes a political window for rethinking the US's relationship for Israel may be opening on the right. 'There's a lot of pressure on [Trump] to support whatever the Israeli government is doing. But there's now some really dissenting voices on the other side of that.'
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump increases his golf footprint in Scotland while world looks elsewhere
Even a cursory glance towards the scale of this year's Open Championship at Royal Portrush emphasised why ongoing and occasionally fevered chatter about Turnberry staging the world's oldest major is futile. Whether the Turnberry owner was Donald Trump or Donald Duck, its lack of adjacent infrastructure makes it unfit for the Open. The Ayrshire venue, lauded again by its owner Trump during a visit in recent days, is simply incapable of hosting the Open in its present form. This need not be an uncomfortable reality for the US president, who can secure at least a portion of the profile and kudos he desires for Turnberry – one of the world's most outstanding golf courses – from an alternative source. It would, in fact, now be a surprise if Turnberry does not appear on the Scottish Open's rota at some point soon. Mutual convenience is staring us all in the face if Trump can even temporarily accept a prize which sits in the shadow of the championship he has craved since buying Turnberry in 2014. The European Tour Group has proved adept at navigating choppy sporting waters. Or, perhaps, merely dealing with the same away from prying eyes. It was the DP World Tour, formerly European, which eased Saudi Arabia into the golf mainstream and it is the same tour which allows Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton to pursue Ryder Cup ambitions while technically in dispute over fines issued for participation in LIV competitions. As eyes fix on Royal Porthcawl and the Women's Open this week, where Lottie Woad will look to continue her vertiginous rise, the Legends Tour – Europe's domain for senior citizens – will stop off at Trump Aberdeen. Only days later, the DP World Tour's Nexo Championship is to be contested at the same venue. The European Tour Group has continued its trick of hiding in plain sight by arranging these events with no backlash whatsoever. Not so much as a raised eyebrow; a scenario that will inevitably continue as the tournaments take place. Depending on one's viewpoint, this is either a tremendous example of public relations or an ominous sign that few people care about the European Tour Group's approach to business. This is not at all to suggest protest or hand-wringing is essential, rather that Trump has quietly and already increased his golfing footprint in a land far from home. The Scottish government has even contributed £180,000 of public money to the Nexo Championship. The stakes look set to be raised. Doonbeg, now Trump Ireland, is known to be under consideration to stage the Irish Open. Reports suggest that could happen as quickly as 2026. Doonbeg and the Irish Open looks a strong alliance; a stunning location which also boasts hotel accommodation. Ireland, like Scotland, should have links venues for its national open. Guy Kinnings, the European Tour Group's chief executive, attended a function in Trump's company in Aberdeenshire on Monday evening before being present for the opening of the president's New Course on the Menie Estate. As Trump cut the ribbon on the New Course, Kinnings was one of just four people standing behind him; two were the president's sons. The Scottish Open's present base at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian is convenient. Leading players can stay on or close to the venue. Renaissance's American owners want the Scottish Open to stay there in perpetuity. The tournament offers a form of seaside preparation immediately before the Open. Last month's edition, though, bore witness to audible grumbles from golfers about the nature of that test. It is impossible to shake the feeling that Scotland has too many exceptional, true links courses for this competition to remain at its current home. Chief among them? Turnberry. There may be a necessary break to Renaissance's run. The R&A will give the Open an overdue return to Muirfield at some point, meaning it would be logistically impossible to stage the previous week's Scottish equivalent at a course which is basically next door. A switch to the west coast would make perfect sense at that point. Any suggestion Turnberry would be banned from future Open duties by hosting the DP World Tour is undermined by the fact professionals and amateurs crash around St Andrews and Carnoustie every year at the Dunhill Links Championship. Turnberry could not only handle a Scottish Open but would be a celebrated venue. 'We love Scotland,' Trump announced before boarding Air Force One on Tuesday. Get ready for a lot more of the same.
Reuters
14 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oil prices rise 1% on trade war relief, US pressure on Russia
NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, extending the previous day's rally, on optimism that a trade war between the United States and its major trading partners was abating and as President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures were up 95 cents, or 1.36%, at $70.99 a barrel at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT), having touched their highest since June 23, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $67.70, up 99 cents, or 1.48%. Both contracts settled more than 2% higher in the previous session. The trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, while imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods, sidestepped a full-blown trade war between the two major allies that would have rippled across nearly a third of global trade and dimmed the outlook for fuel demand. "There is definitely some optimism around the trade deals," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. "It's not perfect, especially for the Europeans, but it is better than it could have been by a long shot." The agreement also calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of U.S. energy over the next three years, which analysts say the bloc has virtually no chance of meeting, while European companies are to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over Trump's second term. Top economic officials from the U.S. and China finished meetings in Stockholm that were aimed at resolving longstanding economic disputes and stepping back from an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Trump set a new deadline on Monday of "10 or 12 days" for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. Trump has threatened sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports unless progress is made. "Oil prices rallied after President Trump said he would shorten the deadline for Russia to come to a deal with Ukraine to end the war, raising supply concerns," ING analysts said in a note. Market participants are also waiting to hear the outcome of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to hold rates but could signal a dovish tilt amid signs of cooling inflation, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova.
