Scotland locals protest Trump's visit with cruel signs... as unbothered president enjoys his golf getaway
The protests seemed to be far from Trump's mind as he played golf alongside his son, Eric, and with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family's company took over in 2014.
Security was tight and protesters were kept some distance away, unable to be seen by the group during Trump's round.
Trump was dressed in black, with a white 'USA' cap, and was spotted driving a golf cart.
The president appeared to play an opening nine holes, stop for lunch, then head out for the back nine.
By the middle of the afternoon, plainclothes security officials began leaving, suggesting Trump was done for the day.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the US Consulate about 100 miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.
Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the U.K.
Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition.'
Anita Bhadani, an organizer, said the protests were 'kind of like a carnival of resistance.'
Trump's late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the president has suggested he feels at home in the country, but the protesters did their best to change that.
'I don't think I could just stand by and not do anything,' said Amy White, 15, of Edinburgh, who attended with her parents.
She held a cardboard sign that said 'We don't negotiate with fascists.' She said 'so many people here loathe him. We're not divided. We're not divided by religion, or race or political allegiance, we're just here together because we hate him.'
Other demonstrators held signs with pictures with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein as the fervor over files in the case has increasingly frustrated the president.
In the view of Mark Gorman, 63, of Edinburgh, 'the vast majority of Scots have this sort of feeling about Trump that, even though he has Scottish roots, he's a disgrace.'
Gorman, who works in advertising, said he came out 'because I have deep disdain for Donald Trump and everything that he stands for.'
No protesters were arrested at the Turnberry demonstrations, according to police.
A 50-year-old woman was issued with a recorded police warning in connection with alleged threatening behavior at a Stop Trump Scotland protest outside the US consulate in Edinburgh.
In Glasgow, a woman aged 49 was arrested at a 'mass deportation rally' led by Nick Tenconi, which was met by a counter-protest in George Square.
The woman, who was a counter-protester, was arrested in connection with an alleged obstruction of the police and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
Police Scotland said two arrests were made in Aberdeen at 'other events' on Saturday, but not at a huge anti-Trump demonstration in the city.
A spokesperson said the force 'took action at demonstrations and protest events' but did not make any arrests at Trump rallies across the country.
Saturday's protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that demonstrated across Scotland when Trump played at Turnberry during his first term in 2018.
But as bagpipes played, people chanted 'Trump Out!' and raised dozens of homemade signs that said things like 'No red carpet for dictators,' 'We don't want you here' and 'Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.'
One dog had a sign that said 'No treats for tyrants.'
Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow.
Trump also plans to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. But golf is a major focus.
The family will also visit another Trump course near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, before returning to Washington on Tuesday.
The Trumps will cut the ribbon and play a new, second course in that area, which officially opens to the public next month.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who is also set to meet with Trump during the visit, announced that public money will go to staging the 2025 Nexo Championship, previously known previously as the Scottish Championship, at Trump's first course near Aberdeen next month.
'The Scottish Government recognizes the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy,' Swinney said.
But Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie likened the awarding of public cash to the tournament to 'handing some pocket money to the school bully'.
At a protest Saturday in Aberdeen, Scottish Parliament member Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity, not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.
'He believes that climate change isn't real, he believes that cutting services for those in the world with the least is the right thing to do,' Chapman said.
'We say no to all of those things, not in our name, never in our name.'
With Trump having last year been convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records, she said the president was a 'convicted felon'.
And she told the PA news agency: 'He is not welcome in Scotland, he is certainly not welcome in Aberdeenshire.
'We know that he is a convicted felon. We also know that all of the promises he has repeatedly made to Scotland have come to nothing, there hasn't been the development of jobs or houses that he promised when he opened his course in Aberdeenshire a few years ago.'
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