Make indy great again? Why Swinney should hijack Trump's visit

The Herald Scotland

5 days ago

But his administration is weak and anaemic. It's bereft of ideas and energy. That's what happens when you hold power for a generation.
The biggest problem for the SNP and Swinney, though, is independence. The leadership has no notion of how to achieve another referendum, and it struggles to explain precisely what independence actually means. When your flagship policy is in tatters, then you're in tatters.
If Swinney could find a way to revivify the independence campaign, then he'd see life flow back into his party. Working out how to get people interested in the Yes movement again – whether for or against, it doesn't really matter – would send a blast of electricity into the neck-bolts of this moribund party.
Read more by Neil Mackay
That means he must take some risks. The game hasn't gone his way, so he needs to grab the ball and make a mad dash for the goal: an all or nothing desperation move.
Donald Trump could be the very man to help him score. Trump's imminent arrival in Scotland is just about the last event the [[SNP]] wants to deal with: he represents everything they despise, but he's a president whom they cannot risk offending.
Swinney will meet Trump. The visit itself is rather ridiculous. It's not an official state visit, but a personal trip, where Trump will wander around his golf courses. Ozymandias surveying his statues.
The tour will have a crippling effect on policing in terms of costs and officers working brutal hours to protect MAGA's King when they could be protecting us. There will be protests. Essentially, it's aggravation that Scotland could do without.
But given we're lumbered with it, Swinney should be smart and take advantage of the circus.
After all, Trump's odious vice-president, JD Vance, took potshots at Scotland's abortion laws, so why not get something in return as payment now? That sounds fair, especially for a president renowned for the art of the deal and turning life into one inglorious transaction.
Swinney should quite simply hijack Trump's visit for the [[SNP]]'s own purposes. When he meets Trump, he needs merely to mention Scottish independence.
At the moment, he appears prepared to talk about difficult subjects: the Middle East, Ukraine and tariffs on Scotch whisky. Just add independence to the list. And don't bother telling the Labour Government. That's an important part of the Hail Mary strategy.
Swinney should shape the discussion in a way that gets inside Trump's psychology. Part of MAGA's ideological universe is the fixation with "states rights": the conflict over where the federal government's power begins and ends. This has an ugly history, all the way back to slavery and the Civil War. It plays into "deep state" conspiracies.
So Swinney could be tricksy, framing Scottish independence as an issue similar to states rights, but within the UK's borders.
Trump is also pretty free and easy when it comes to commenting on the integrity of the borders of other nations. Just ask Canada, Greenland and Panama.
Swinney doesn't need to suck up to Trump. He just needs to pour the necessary words into the ear of this very combustible man.
If Swinney then emerged from the meeting and simply mentioned in passing to the media that he'd raised Scottish independence, all he'd have to do is stand back and watch the news agenda do what it does.
Trump would at some point be asked about the issue. What he may or may not say would essentially be irrelevant as far as the SNP was concerned.
If he nixed the idea, then the Yes movement can say it is under attack by this demon from Washington. Every liberal-leftie in Britain would immediately feel some pang of sympathy, even if they hated the idea of Scotland leaving the union.
If Trump showed a smidgen of favour to independence then the debate gets rocket fuel in the tank, and the Tory Party and Reform are undercut.
If he says something diplomatic (aye, right) like "this is an internal matter for the UK", then he still pushes the debate onto the news agenda internationally.
The foreign press would start to cover it, and the SNP would find itself once more making the political weather in Scotland, rather than, as it does now, letting the weather buffet the party where it may.
Starmer would be caught on the hop, and he and the rest of the Westminster pack would have to start talking about independence.
Donald Trump is big on states rights (Image: Getty)
The UK Government would have to reiterate its refusal of a second referendum in a very different climate where the US and European media are paying much more attention.
Starmer is utterly terrified of Trump so he'd dance around the issue absurdly, adding more fuel to the media fires.
This is a Hail Mary strategy, though, so it requires real cojones and skill to pull off. Hail Marys often end in fumbling face-plants if not perfectly executed.
So Swinney cannot be seen to cosy up to Trump, he can't play the craven bootlicker like Starmer. Nor can he be seen to endorse a single MAGA policy or anything Trump stands for. Trump is toxic to the SNP's progressive brand.
All Trump is, in this case, is a bridge to a goal. The SNP is a wreck at the moment, down on its luck with a hole in the seat of its pants. It needs to find a way to turn its fortunes around.
All it's got – indeed all the party has ever had – is the power which independence can unleash if wielded correctly as a political weapon.
Trump is essentially a human Jack-in-the-Box. With the right winding-up, you're guaranteed that he will spring into the air, yammering and causing international ructions.
Swinney just has to give the handle a few subtle turns, then walk quickly from the room and leave Trump and the international media to do the rest for him.
Neil Mackay is The Herald's Writer at Large. He's a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics.