Donald Trump blasts Nicola Sturgeon as 'terrible' First Minister after praising John Swinney
Donald Trump has blasted Nicola Sturgeon as a "terrible" first minister after he praised John Swinney.
The US President was full of praise for the current SNP leader after they sat next to each other for dinner on Monday evening at the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire.
The Republican leader then gave a shout out to Swinney as he formally opened a second course at the resort yesterday. But Trump has less positive things to say about Sturgeon as he spoke to reporters on board Air Force One after departing from RAF Lossiemouth on Tuesday evening.
Trump told journalists that while he liked Swinney, he "did not have a lot of respect" for "the woman that preceded him".
A source close to Sturgeon, who stood down as first minister in 2023, said "the feeling was entirely mutual".
Swinney spoke with Trump at a dinner for about two hours on Monday night. The SNP leader later said he made the case for granting Scotch whisky an exemption from US trade tariffs.
But Trump told journalists on the presidential aircraft that the pair "did not really discuss" tariffs during the meeting. But he said he had "a lot of respect" for Swinney.
Unprompted, he continued: "I didn't have a lot of respect for the woman that preceded him. I thought she was terrible as a first minister of Scotland. But I think John is doing a very good job as first minister."
Sturgeon did not welcome Trump's first election in 2016 and the pair did not meet during his first term in office. When she suddenly resigned from Bute House in February 2023, Trump said: "Good riddance to failed woke extremist Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland!" he said in a statement.
"This crazed leftist symbolises everything wrong with identity politics. Sturgeon thought it was OK to put a biological man in a women's prison, and if that wasn't bad enough, Sturgeon fought for a 'Gender Recognition Reform Bill' that would have allowed 16-year-old children to change their gender without medical advice.
"I built the greatest golf properties in the world in Scotland, but she fought me all the way, making my job much more difficult. "The wonderful people of Scotland are much better off without Sturgeon in office!"
Sturgeon earlier this year described Trump as engaging in "bully boy" tactics. 'We live in a word today where we see many examples of what I would describe as really bad leadership," she said. "Bully boy, alpha male leadership is upending the world we are living in today. For younger people, the role models they are looking to in leadership are not the role models we would like to see."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
8 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes to stand down as MSP in 2026
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch said she does not wish to 'miss any more of the precious early years of family life'. She is one of the SNP's most significant politicians, having finished second in the 2023 leadership election, which saw Humza Yousaf succeed Nicola Sturgeon as party leader. When John Swinney became First Minister last year, he appointed Ms Forbes to his cabinet as his deputy, also taking charge of the Government's economy portfolio. In a statement shared on Monday, Ms Forbes said she had reflected over recess and decided not to run again in 2026. She said she had been 'privileged' to serve her various roles in government. Ms Forbes said: 'I remain wholly supportive of the First Minister just as when I backed him to be leader of the SNP and I look forward to campaigning for the SNP at the next election – to lead Scotland to independence. 'I was first elected in my mid-20s, dedicating my most formative adult years to public service. In that time, I presented multiple budgets, supported thousands of businesses and workers during Covid-19 and launched Scotland's most ambitious business start up network TechScaler. 'I now wish to step back from my public duties and focus on new opportunities to serve people. 'I have grown up in the public eye, getting married, having a baby and raising a young family. 'I have consistently put the public's needs ahead of my family's during that time. I am grateful to them for accommodating the heavy demands of being a political figure. 'Looking ahead to the future, I do not want to miss any more of the precious early years of family life – which can never be rewound.' The First Minister wrote back to Ms Forbes, saying he understood her decision and thanking her for her contributions. Mr Swinney said: ''You have made a huge contribution to public life in Scotland and have been instrumental in making progress on economic issues for my Government. 'You have much to be proud of in all of the work you have undertaken but I am especially heartened by the effect of your leadership on advancing support for the Gaelic language. 'We all wrestle with the inevitable conflicts between family and public life and I sympathise with the dilemmas you have faced. 'I wish you, Ali and your family well and much happiness in the years ahead.' Scottish Labour's deputy leader Jackie Baillie said she wished Ms Forbes well, but said she was part of a 'tired government with no vision'. She said: 'It is a great honour for us all to represent our constituents in Parliament, and I am sure that those living in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch will be grateful for her work during that time. 'Of course, as much as being an MSP is a privilege, it is also a demanding job which can make for a difficult balance between our working and personal lives.' She added: 'But it cannot have escaped the notice of voters that many of the SNP's former rising stars are abandoning the stage, often to be replaced by defeated names of yesteryears and anonymous party apparatchiks.'
Spectator
8 minutes ago
- Spectator
Kate Forbes's exit is proof the SNP has lost its way
In little over a week, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has lost two of its greatest political stars. Mhairi Black, the left-wing MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, threw in the towel last week, citing the 'toxicity' of politics and the party's lack of support for transgender rights. Now, the deputy leader of the SNP, Kate Forbes – regarded as a social conservative – has stepped down to spend more time with her family. The trickle of nationalist departures risks turning into a flood. Forbes's departure is the greater shock. Many regarded the 35-year-old MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch as the leading leadership challenger from the right of the party. As the SNP's first female Finance Secretary, she championed a return to pro-business economics and strongly defended the oil and gas industry. Her statement today that she doesn't want to miss 'the precious early years of family life' – she has a three-year-old daughter – came as a complete surprise. Mhairi Black, on the other hand, had long expressed her disillusionment with Westminster politics and had made it clear last year that she was standing down as an MP. However, her many supporters on the left of the SNP hoped she might seek a political future in Holyrood. Instead, she announced on 25 July that she was quitting the SNP for good. Black was highly regarded as an articulate and dynamic champion of the youth vote. When she was elected to Paisley and Renfrewshire South in 2015, defeating the Labour cabinet minister Douglas Alexander, she became the youngest MP to be elected since 1832 at 20 years old. Black went on to become deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster and, with a prominent media profile, including a show at the Edinburgh Festival, was seen by many as the future of Scottish nationalism. But last week, she cited the SNP leadership's 'capitulations on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular' as the reason she could no longer remain a party member. She also criticised the SNP leader, John Swinney, for equivocating on the issue of Palestinian 'genocide'. There is little doubt that Black regarded Kate Forbes as a leading figure in those 'capitulations'. The deputy leader made clear that she 'unequivocally' supported 'single-sex spaces and women's rights', and Forbes openly praised the gender-critical author J.K. Rowling as a 'national treasure'. A committed Christian and member of an evangelical sect, Forbes also said she personally did not support abortion, although she accepted that it was the law of the land. She admitted that she would have voted against same-sex marriage had she been in Holyrood when the matter was debated in 2012. Black argued that the SNP could not remain a party of young people while clinging to such policies. Centrists may argue that the departures of these two controversial figures, in a sense, cancel each other out, allowing the party to stabilise behind John Swinney, the ultimate centrist dad. But this development will only further demoralise the party as it seeks to avoid defeat in next year's Holyrood election and has barely recovered from its drubbing in last year's general election when it lost 38 seats. The loss of two high-profile women only adds to the sense that the SNP has lost direction since the equally sudden departure of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon in February 2023. Of course, many will blame the difficulties that women face in politics, though neither Sturgeon nor Mhairi Black had young children to look after. The attrition rate for female politicians in Scotland is high. The former women leaders of the Scottish Labour party, Kezia Dugdale, and the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, also left politics at short notice. However, as far as the SNP is concerned, it is probably more a consequence of the failure of nationalist politics than of personal issues or misogyny. Kate Forbes stood for the party leadership as recently as 2023 and lost narrowly to Humza Yousaf, who is himself standing down at next year's Holyrood elections. The former SNP minister, Fergus Ewing, who left the party last month, has said: 'With Alex Salmond's passing last year, the SNP lost the best leader it ever had; with Kate's decision, the SNP has lost the best leader it never had.' The SNP has haemorrhaged electoral support since the departure of Nicola Sturgeon and is now polling in the low 30s. The current leader, John Swinney, has been heavily criticised for his lacklustre leadership and his failure to translate support for independence, which is running at over 50 per cent in many recent opinion polls, into support for the party of independence. This latest shock will only increase murmurs of discontent about Swinney's leadership. The main beneficiary is likely to be the party's Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, who is beginning to look like a shoo-in for SNP leader if and when John Swinney takes the long walk.
Telegraph
8 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Kate Forbes to quit politics as trans row tears apart SNP
Scotland's deputy first minister has announced she is quitting politics in the latest sign that a transgender row is splitting the SNP. Kate Forbes said she will not seek re-election in next year's Scottish Parliament elections, putting to bed what will have been a decade as MSP for the Highlands constituency of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. Ms Forbes said she did not want to 'miss any more of the precious early years of family life' in a letter to John Swinney, the First Minister, posted on social media on Monday morning. The practising Christian had been at odds with her party's leadership over her support for single-sex spaces, which she said she backed 'unequivocally' amid Sandie Peggie's employment tribunal, where the nurse is suing NHS Fife for unlawful discrimination over sharing a changing room with a trans medic. Mr Swinney has continued to resist calls to ditch the policy of self-identification even though the UK Government blocked Nicola Sturgeon's legislation to introduce the system. Ms Forbes was on maternity leave when Holyrood overwhelmingly voted to pass the legislation but has since said she would not have been able to support it. The deputy first minister's announcement comes weeks after Mhairi Black, the SNP's deputy leader in Westminster, revealed she quit the party because of its insufficiently Left-wing position on trans rights. Ms Black, who was elected to the Commons aged just 20, singled out 'the capitulation on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular' as a significant issue behind her decision, announced in July. Pressure is mounting on Mr Swinney after rebel members challenged his independence blueprint by setting out their own radical plan. On Friday, they unveiled a proposal to open independence negotiations with the UK Government if nationalist parties get a majority of the popular vote in next year's Holyrood election. If selected for discussion, it will rival Mr Swinney's motion outlining his new independence plan, which the First Minister unveiled last week. Ms Forbes is one of the SNP's most significant politicians, having finished second in the 2023 leadership election, which saw Humza Yousaf succeed Ms Sturgeon as party leader. When John Swinney became First Minister last year, he appointed Ms Forbes to his cabinet as his deputy, also taking charge of the Scottish Government's economy portfolio. The 35-year-old rising star has, however, consistently faced intense scrutiny over her religious beliefs around abortion and gay marriage as a member of the conservative Free Church of Scotland. As a candidate, Ms Forbes admitted she was part of a faith which rejects sex before marriage but said the 'choices other people make' do not 'fuss' her. In the statement announcing her decision, she said: 'I was first elected in my mid-20s, dedicating my most formative adult years to public service. 'In that time, I presented multiple budgets, supported thousands of businesses and workers during Covid-19 and launched Scotland's most ambitious business start-0up network TechScaler. 'I now wish to step back from my public duties and focus on new opportunities to serve people. 'I have grown up in the public eye, getting married, having a baby and raising a young family. 'I have consistently put the public's needs ahead of my family's during that time. I am grateful to them for accommodating the heavy demands of being a political figure. 'Looking ahead to the future, I do not want to miss any more of the precious early years of family life – which can never be rewound.' Writing to Ms Forbes, Mr Swinney said he understood her decision and thanked her for her contributions. Mr Swinney said: 'You have made a huge contribution to public life in Scotland and have been instrumental in making progress on economic issues for my government. 'You have much to be proud of in all of the work you have undertaken but I am especially heartened by the effect of your leadership on advancing support for the Gaelic language. 'We all wrestle with the inevitable conflicts between family and public life and I sympathise with the dilemmas you have faced.'
