Trump's trip to Scotland highlights his complex relationship with his mother's homeland
Trump has had a long and at times rocky relationship with the country where his mother grew up in a humble house on a windswept isle.
He will be met by both political leaders and protesters during the visit, which begins Friday and takes in his two Scottish golf resorts. It comes two months before King Charles III is due to welcome him on a formal state visit to the U.K.
A daughter of Scotland
Trump's mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912 near the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides off Scotland's northwest coast.
'My mother was born in Scotland — Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,' Trump said in 2017.
She was raised in a large Scots Gaelic-speaking family and left for New York in 1930, one of thousands of people from the islands to emigrate in the hardscrabble years after World War I.
MacLeod married the president's father, Fred C. Trump, the son of German immigrants, in New York in 1936. She died in August 2000 at the age of 88.
Trump still has relatives on Lewis, and visited in 2008, spending a few minutes in the plain gray house where his mother grew up.
A long golf course battle
Trump's ties and troubles in Scotland are intertwined with golf.
He first proposed building a course on a wild and beautiful stretch of the North Sea coast north of Aberdeen in 2006.
The Trump International Scotland development was backed by the Scottish government. But it was fiercely opposed by some local residents and conservationists, who said the stretch of coastal sand dunes was home to some of the country's rarest wildlife, including skylarks, kittiwakes, badgers and otters.
Local fisherman Michael Forbes became an international cause célèbre after he refused the Trump Organization's offer of 350,000 pounds ($690,000 at the time) to sell his family's rundown farm in the center of the estate. Forbes still lives on his property, which Trump once called 'a slum and a pigsty.'
'If it weren't for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,' Trump said in 2008 amid the planning battle over the course. 'Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn't have started it.'
The golf course was eventually approved and opened in 2012. Some of the grander aspects of the planned development, including 500 houses and a 450-room hotel, have not been realized, and the course has never made a profit.
A second 18-hole course at the resort is scheduled to open this summer. It's named the MacLeod Course in honor of Trump's mother.
There has been less controversy about Trump's other Scottish golf site, the long-established Turnberry resort in southwest Scotland, which he bought in 2014. He has pushed for the British Open to be held at the course for the first time since 2009.
Turnberry is one of 10 courses on the rotation to host the Open. But organizers say there are logistical issues about 'road, rail and accommodation infrastructure' that must be resolved before it can return.
Protests and politicians
Trump has had a rollercoaster relationship with Scottish and U.K. politicians.
More than a decade ago, the Scottish government enlisted Trump as an unpaid business adviser with the GlobalScot network, a group of business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives with a connection to Scotland. It dumped him in 2015 after he called for Muslims to be banned from the U.S. The remarks also prompted Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen to revoke an honorary doctorate in business administration it had awarded Trump in 2010.
This week Trump will meet left-leaning Scottish First Minister John Swinney, an erstwhile Trump critic who endorsed Kamala Harris before last year's election — a move branded an 'insult' by a spokesperson for Trump's Scottish businesses.
Swinney said it's 'in Scotland's interest' for him to meet the president.
Some Scots disagree, and a major police operation is being mounted during the visit in anticipation of protests. The Stop Trump Scotland group has encouraged demonstrators to come to Aberdeen and 'show Trump exactly what we think of him in Scotland.'
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to travel to Scotland for talks with Trump. The British leader has forged a warm relationship with Trump, who said this month 'I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he's a liberal.' They are likely to talk trade, as Starmer seeks to nail down an exemption for U.K. steel from Trump's tariffs.
There is no word on whether Trump and Starmer — not a golfer — will play a round at one of the courses.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
11 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pakistani security forces kill 3 militants linked to 2024 attack on Chinese in Karachi
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces in an overnight raid killed three suspected militants accused of orchestrating last year's attack in which two Chinese nationals working in a textile mill in the southern port city of Karachi were wounded, officials said on Monday. Azad Khan, a senior official with the Counter-Terrorism Department, said the dead insurgents included the alleged mastermind of the November 2024 attack. He identified that person only as Zafran and said he was from the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. China has repeatedly pressed Pakistan to improve security for its nationals working on major infrastructure projects under Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which include roads, railways and power plants. Chinese nationals have increasingly come under attack by militant groups, including TTP and the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army — banned by the Pakistani authorities and also designated as terrorist groups by the United States. Pakistan has pledged to bolster security measures for Chinese workers, including those employed at private factories. Meanwhile, at least seven people were killed the previous day in Tirah Valley, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Fiaz Khan, a local government official, said. He said the violence erupted when hundreds of residents gathered outside a military camp to demand protection and justice after a child was killed in a mortar attack on the weekend. The crowd came under gunfire from 'unknown gunmen,' Khan said. He said the demonstrators accused security forces of opening fire when some people were throwing stones at the military camp, but police had yet to determine whose bullets caused the deaths. Khan said gunfire was also reported from nearby hills, and police suspect TTP may have been behind the shooting to sow discord between residents and the military. The government has ordered a probe into the killings of demonstrators, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Globe and Mail
11 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
The state of Canadian tourism in the ‘elbows up' moment
Travel to the U.S. has plummeted ever since President Donald Trump started talking about annexing Canada and imposing tariffs on us. Politicians on this side of the border are embracing the moment, encouraging people to take trips closer to home. So how is it all working out for Canadian tourism? The Globe's Jason Kirby, who writes for the Report on Business, joins us to talk about what this summer looks like for Canada's travel sector. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@
CTV News
11 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘Trump respects strength': Ex-White House official says Canada must hold firm in trade talks
Canadian and American flags fly near the Ambassador Bridge at the Canada-USA border crossing in Windsor, Ont. on Saturday, March 21, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rob Gurdebeke The United States has agreed on a trade framework with the European Union, but Canada is still without a deal and could face the threat of steep new U.S. tariffs as early as Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an agreement Sunday that sets a 15 per cent tariff on most goods traded between the two economies. It is the latest in a series of agreements the U.S. has signed with allies including Japan, the U.K., and Vietnam. Canada, meanwhile, remains under the threat of 35 per cent tariffs on exports, if an agreement isn't reached by Trump's Aug. 1 deadline. The country is already facing U.S. levies on steel, aluminum, and automobiles. New tariffs on copper are expected to kick in next. Former White House official Larry Haas says Ottawa has reason to be concerned. 'The tone between the United States and Canada is a lot more negative than the tone seems to be between the United States and the EU,' Haas said during an interview with CTV News Channel on Sunday. 'I think both countries... are preparing for the very strong possibility that we're going to get tariffs.' Haas said the deadline could still shift, depending on economic signals. 'Trump has backed away from other deadlines when it came to tariffs,' he said. 'If we approach August 1 and these tariffs are looming, and the stock market all of a sudden becomes shaky, I could envision another extension.' Canada has taken steps to respond to U.S. pressure, including boosting border inspections and cancelling a digital services tax. Still, Haas says the Canadian government faces a difficult negotiating environment. 'President Trump respects strength as opposed to weakness,' he said. 'Canada needs to make clear to the United States that it's not going to take just any deal.' Haas said tariffs are not a 'formula for long-term economic growth,' but not 'Canadian officials or anyone else is going to talk President Trump out of his fondness for tariffs.'
