Will Trump's visit go with a swing – or is it on course for disaster?
Anyway, he's overpaid, oversexed, and over here, and he's going to get a mixed reception.
Will he meet the King?
Not on this occasion. Inexplicably, the environmentally conscious, vaguely progressive monarch won't be at Balmoral, so handy for the Trump International course. Therefore, not even a plate of Duchy Original oatcakes will be laid on for the 47th president by His Majesty. Instead, the King and Queen will be sequestered at Windsor Castle, phone off the hook.
However, the red carpet, tiaras and gold plate will be on full ostentatious royal display when Trump returns for his full state visit, his second, from 17 to 19 September. Even Trump should be impressed by the quantity of gilt, solid silver and precious jewels he'll be surrounded by. It'll be just like the redecorated Oval Office, but less gaudy.
Will he address both houses of parliament?
Again, circumstances have somehow worked against the planners. By unusually bad luck, parliament will be in recess for both visits, so President Trump won't have the pleasure of being able to spot Nigel Farage, Lord Mandelson, Lady May or any other old acquaintances at such a gathering. On the plus side, he'll be spared some unruly types shouting 'Free Palestine' and 'Release the Epstein Files'.
Trump says he's not bothered about all that, even if President Macron, President Reagan, and President Barack Hussein Obama (as Mr Trump likes to call him), among others, have been granted the honour. Just as well, eh?
What about the prime minister?
Good news here. After plenty of golf, and inspecting the finest courses in the world (by far, actually; there's nowhere like them anywhere; there really isn't; make golf great again...), he's got a little time booked in with Keir Starmer on Monday. For reasons no one understands, Trump gets on with this woke, radical, left-wing human rights lawyer, so you never know what might emerge.
Starmer is keeping it fairly light – so no negotiations on steel tariffs, for example – but he will have to raise the Middle East. Even Trump must be uncomfortable seeing pictures of starving infants in Gaza, and the first lady might also have pointed out that Benjamin Netanyahu has been playing America along. Unlikely to be a bust-up, anyway, given that Starmer has so far declined to follow Macron in recognising full Palestinian statehood.
Less happily, Scottish first minister John Swinney has managed to wangle a meeting with Trump (something denied to Nicola Sturgeon in her day), and might wind him up a bit, Zelensky-style. Let's hope so: the fallout could be spectacular.
Any chance of the Blimp flying?
It's possible. There are reports that the giant inflatable model of Trump as a mewling baby in a nappy, seen on previous visits, is being readied, but probably more for London. In Scotland, its appearance anywhere near the president might invite an attack from an F-16.
Is Trump really half Scottish?
Afraid so, aye. His mum, Mary Anne MacLeod (b 1912), came from the Outer Hebrides and emigrated (presumably legally) to the United States in 1930. She married Fred Trump six years later, gave birth to Donald in 1946, and the rest, as they say, is Trumpery.
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
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Scotsman
32 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Think Donald Trump is a clown? He's a serious politician and a warning to Scotland
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Scotsman
32 minutes ago
- Scotsman
The £200bn reason why Swinney must not make a mess of Trump visit
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... There is a surplus of advice to John Swinney about issues he should raise with President Donald Trump, most of it misguided. This is not an opportunity to be wasted on grandstanding or moral indignation. The policy area on which Mr Swinney might have some possibility of influence is around trade and tariffs. So far, Keir Starmer has done pretty well on that front so, at this point, the obligation is to consolidate that advantage, not to threaten it. 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Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Harris Tweed also has a colourful history of avoiding punitive US tariffs which once involved a Free Church minister going to Washington to plead the industry's special case, having first rallied support for exemption among fellow fundamentalists in the textile-producing areas of the southern States. At that time, vast quantities of the fabric were exported to the US to be turned into jackets. The change that has taken place epitomises the issue. To all intents and purposes, there is no American garment-making industry any more. Much of the fabric goes to other countries with lower labour costs and it is the finished products which enter America and will be subject to tariffs at whatever rate is eventually set. Fortunately, the American market is much less dominant than it used to be, for there would now be no space for even a Free Church minister, never mind a trade one, to exercise benign influence! 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