Locals have their say as President Donald Trump visits sleepy Scots seaside village
MAKE AYRSHIRE GREAT AGAIN Locals have their say as President Donald Trump visits sleepy Scots seaside village
THE sleepy seaside village of Maidens looked to be completely unaffected by the Presidential hullabaloo happening just along the coast — until two excited MAGA hat-wearing fans turned up.
This was not a pair of US Trump supporters either as brother and sister Ben, 16, and Alicia Skilling, 15, had only travelled 30 miles from their home in Kilmarnock to try and catch a glimpse of their idol.
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Brother and sister Ben, 16, and Alicia Skilling, 15, travelled 30 miles to try and catch a glimpse of Trump
Credit: John Kirkby
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Dave Carter, 86, reckons the US President has been a breath of fresh air for the area
Credit: John Kirkby
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Angela Bryce dreams of having an 'appointment' with the President one day
Credit: John Kirkby
Ben said: 'I would describe myself as a Trump fan for sure. I'm just back from Florida and wore my MAGA hat all the time.
'In Disney everyone kept saying to me 'nice hat'. I get a lot more stick over here for wearing it than I ever got in America.'
However, sister Alicia is a less vocal Trump advocate, stretching only as far to say she thinks the US President is 'alright'.
So why is she wearing a MAGA hat then?
She sighs: 'Because he has four of them.'
Their mum, student teacher Jacqueline Malone, 44, added: 'He even bought a Turnberry hat for £45 and Trump gold cufflinks, but he lost one of them at school.'
The family head off with a long lens camera, desperate to snap a picture of Donald's arrival at his golf resort in Turnberry.
But they were the only sign that in a few hours' time the leader of the free world would arrive by motorcade as the people of Maidens continued life at their normal laidback pace.
Hosting big shots
OAPs played bowls in the local bowling club, while kids squeals heard from the swing park as folk dined out on the balcony of Ropes Bistro.
Then again historically this area has been used to hosting big shots.
Donald Trump touches down in Scotland
In 1307, Robert the Bruce landed in Maidens after sailing from Ireland — a stone's throw from his childhood home in Turnberry — accompanied by a small army of 300 men.
No doubt The Bruce would have been impressed by the 6,000-strong battalion of officers drafted from across the country to protect The Donald.
Strolling along the seafront I spotted a man with a Turnberry logo on his jacket, who turned out to be a caddie at the golf course.
Not wishing to be named, he told me security had been ramped up since the last time Trump was President.
He explained: 'Before you just had to show your work pass to get in, but since someone took a shot at him we've now got to go through airport scanners.'
Chris Saunders, 61, from the charity Adventure Carrick, was also expecting to get the third degree as he arrived to take a class of disadvantaged kids paddleboarding on the Firth of Clyde.
He added: 'There are roadblocks all around Turnberry but the way I heard it on the radio I was expecting to have a real problem getting here today — I even brought my ID in case I was asked.
"Sure you see the odd police van about, but I just drove in no problem at all. There aren't even any protesters. It's pretty much as normal.'
What also seems to be normal for these parts is the amount of dog walkers taking their pooches for a stroll.
Retired sewage plant manager Dave Carter, 86, from Warrington, who has been holidaying here for the last 30 years, reckons the US President has been a breath of fresh air for the area.
He says: 'Trump has been better than some of the daytrippers you get down here when the weather is nice.
'They leave a right mess behind. Turnberry was going to wrack and ruin until he took over.
Play to his ego...not the gallery
Commentary by Chris Musson, Associate Editor (Politics)
KEIR Starmer and John Swinney will both meet Donald Trump in the next couple of days.
But a chinwag with Trump can be a dangerous thing. Like trying to calm a temperamental toddler playing with the pin of a grenade.
Just ask Volodymyr Zelensky.
Though it bodes well for Starmer and Swinney that the Prez was full of cheer as he arrived in his ancestral homeland.
And today he was out golfing at his beloved Turnberry — the biggest and bestest course in the universe.
Frankly, given his troubles back home — not least the Jeffrey Epstein row — Trump would probably take a month in a leaky caravan in Saltcoats right now.
The full-on UK-US diplomacy gets underway tomorrow when Starmer and Trump hold a TV press conference — the PM's moment of maximum danger.
As for Swinney, well, Trump has said the 'Scottish leader is a good man'.
But for Swinney's sake, let's hope the President didn't catch up with the papers as he tucked into his Full Scottish while gazing out at Ailsa Craig.
If so, he may have spotted the First Minister virtue-signalling about Gaza and cultivating anti-Trump demos.
But Trump isn't here for a row.
He's here for a hol, to open his new course in Menie, Aberdeenshire, 'celebrate' a trade deal, and work out how to persuade R&A golf bosses to let Turnberry host The Open.
I suspect all will be fine.
Swinney has said some unwise things, but everyone in the world who's not Trump seems to have had a pop at him at some point.
And the £180,000 Swinney magically announced for his Aberdeenshire course will certainly help oil the wheels of diplomacy.
But a warning to Swin and Starm.
When in the same room as The Donald, especially on camera, do NOT play to the gallery.
If he gets an inkling you're challenging his authority or upstaging him, brace for a tantrum.
Never bow down to a bully, it's said.
But equally you could argue Swinney should choose his battles wisely.
He should forget his grandstanding suggestion that he will confront Trump over 'war and peace, justice and democracy'.
Just leave it, John.
Instead, write 'don't turn Gaza into a golf resort' on a Post-it and stick it on Trump's jacket as you give him a friendly back slap.
Trump will find it later, by which time Swinney will be back in Perthshire in his pyjamas.
And the First Minister can stick out a half-honest press release saying he raised the big issues.
One more thing. Should either UK leader end up on the golf course with Trump, then compliment his swing.
And if he says it was a hole in one, then it was a hole in one.
'He has spent a fortune doing it up and now there are loads of Americans visiting here again.'
Locals Jack Hannah, 65, and pal George Clark, 66, were also keen to have their views on their famous neighbour made known as they walked mutts Freddie and Tommy.
George says: 'I don't want to get too political, but why do people object to him coming here?
'These protesters preach democracy yet Trump was democratically elected by millions of Americans.
'He's not done them any harm and puts money in the community, and employs a lot of people. So why can't he come here and play some golf without all the moaning. It's a free country after all.'
Jack adds: 'I don't want to get into politics either but why don't the Green Party go and protest in countries like India and China who are among the worst polluters in the world. I'm all for Trump — drill baby, drill.'
And that was them not being political?
Just then Angela Bryce accosts me in the street as she wants to talk about Trump, along with her self-published book, show off her garden, oh, and she's also a healer to boot — even though she currently has a broken neck from a motorbike accident.
She laughs: 'I've got to heal myself first.'
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Chris Saunders was expecting the third degree he arrived to take a class of disadvantaged kids paddleboarding
Credit: John Kirkby
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George Clark and Jack Hannah don't understand why folk are protesting the President's visit
Credit: John Kirkby
But she dreams of having an 'appointment' with the President one day as she has '103 business ideas for him that are ready to go'.
Right now though she just hopes the 79-year-old can be left in peace to enjoy some golf away from all the pressures of high office.
Angela, 50, says: 'He is missing out on the simple joys of being able to just have a round of golf without all this fuss. But I really think he is a god or a king or a lord or a legend or something.'
She's also enthusiastic about his wife Melania, adding: 'She is so beautiful — they are a beautiful match. And I bet she doesn't moan and do his f*****g head in while he's trying to get on with the great job he's doing.' Indeed.
Surely if anyone is going to be miffed at all the road closures for The Donald it would be haulage worker Alex Hamilton, 77.
But he insists: 'It's only a couple of days isn't it? The guy deserves to come here and play as he saved Turnberry.'
The red MAGA hat-wearing Ben returns after being knocked back by cops while trying to make their way along the coastline towards Turnberry.
He says: 'They told me they had sent Sky News packing as well. We're going to try and see him landing at Prestwick instead.'
His patient mum Jacqueline adds: 'Ben is really into his politics.
'He always says that Trump would make a better Prime Minister than Keir Starmer — but I think anyone would.'
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