Latest news with #MaryTrump
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Scottish distillers hope Trump's ties to the country will soften him on the tariffs interrupting their trade
'Whether you like it or not, this guy has the power to really damage Scotland,' he recalled telling his wife at the time. 'But one thing that is unique about Trump is if you appeal to the individual, you might get somewhere.' Scotland, the birthplace of Trump's mother, Mary Trump, spent the past week bracing for the arrival of its prodigal son - a sober man whose drink of choice is Diet Coke. While the land of whisky has long had a complex relationship with Trump, who arrived to scattered protests, distillers say they are hoping a personal plea built on his affection for his mother's homeland will help Scotch whisky escape the fallout from his global trade war. Trump will spend the next four days visiting his golf courses as tariffs against dozens of countries are set to take effect on August 1, giving Prime Minister Keir Starmer a quiet moment on the fairway to make a case for shielding the United Kingdom from further economic confrontation. Their meeting comes months after Trump first announced a de-escalation that spared certain UK exports, like automobiles, from higher tariffs but left room to hammer out the details - creating an opening for lobbying from affected sectors. American tourists visiting Lindores Abbey Distillery made a point to say they did not vote for US President Donald Trump. Photo / Emily Macinnes, for the Washington Post The Scottish - who as a whole are a more liberal, pro-European Union people and often feel overlooked by Westminster - see this golf-oriented trip as their best chance at affecting negotiations between London and Washington. Despite recent Ipsos polling showing more than 70% of Scots do not approve of Trump, everyone from Cabinet ministers to Lowland distillers say they plan a charm offensive in what amounts to a high-stakes weekend for the country. Scotch whisky makers are facing 10% tariffs on exports to the United States, their biggest market. 'It is a vital employer, a major investor and an iconic export, and we want to see tariffs lifted on Scotch whisky as soon as possible,' said Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife, where Lindores Abbey Distillery is, and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Scotch whisky. 'President Trump's visit, just up the coast from here, is a moment the Prime Minister should seize upon to make progress, and one we hope they will grasp.' The Prime Minister's office declined to answer questions about whether zeroing out tariffs on Scotch whisky was a priority for Starmer. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the President's position. The whisky trade associations in Scotland and theUS mounted an offensive, working together to try to persuade their respective governments to leave spirits out of their spat. 'Scotch and American whisky, we are so intertwined,' said Chris Swonger, president and chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. 'We are trying to make our colleagues in the Trump Administration understand that.' Bourbon, which is whiskey made in the US with a sweet, rich flavour, is aged in new charred oak barrels. Many of those barrels are shipped to Scotland and reused to age Scotch whisky, which is typically more varied in taste and always matured in second-hand casks for at least three years. The distinct styles of the spirits and the sharing of barrels, as well as a consumer base that tends to like an array of options, make it so the cross-continental industries benefit from each other more than they compete. The US is Scottish whisky's biggest export market - generating about £1 billion per year, according to the UK's Scotch Whisky Association - and is often the first international market that small distillers enter. Ross, brother of founder and managing director Drew McKenzie-Smith, cleans out one of the mash tuns at Lindores Abbey Distillery. Photo / Emily Macinnes, for the Washington Post 'We feel we are two different branches of the same family,' said Mark Kent, the UK's chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association. 'Bourbon can only be made in the US and Scotch can only be made in Scotland. There is no question of one side taking over another.' Still, the spirits have a history of becoming collateral damage in trade wars between the US and UK. In 2019, during a subsidy fight between Airbus and Boeing, Trump's first Administration and the European Union imposed 25% retaliatory tariffs on a range of goods, including spirits: The US targeted single-malt Scotch, and the EU, which then included the UK, hit American bourbon and other whiskey. 'We've been through this pain before,' Swonger said, who is concerned that the UK could impose retaliatory tariffs if Trump continues to take aim at Scotch whisky. 'This is creating a situation of immediate difficulty for our distillers at the moment.' Swonger said he planned to fly to Scotland to join Kent in Aberdeenshire in advance of the president and prime minister's visit. They will visit a distillery, Swonger said, in a show of unity that they hope will reach their respective leaders as they convene at Trump's golf course nearby. 'It's called the 19th hole,' Swonger said, 'to have a Scotch or an American whiskey.' Back in the Scottish Lowlands, where rolling fields are sliced by narrow stretches of road, McKenzie-Smith stood before towering bronze distillers named after his daughters. They were built beside the field where, more than 500 years ago, Scots enjoyed what they now call 'amber nectar'. Lindores whisky bottles sit among supporters of the distillery. Photo / Emily Macinnes, for the Washington Post 'With the incumbent in the White House,' said McKenzie-Smith, dressed in a vest that bore the name of his distillery, 'the one thing we can count on is uncertainty'. Lindores Abbey Distillery, in operation since 2017, had endured the hard years of the coronavirus pandemic. Now McKenzie-Smith was ready to expand, and like most small distillers around him, the US had long been his first focus. He developed a plan that would make the US his biggest market in two years and started talking to partners across the Atlantic Ocean who could help make it happen. Then Trump was elected for a second time, an outcome McKenzie-Smith did not anticipate given the chaos he read about online during his first term. And soon enough, the American president's stop-start economic strategy took hold - where one day there could be threats of sweeping global tariffs and the next day there could be talk of a deal. 'Even China won't suddenly change the rules,' McKenzie-Smith said. He said he started looking towards other markets, like India, where residents are known to have a thirst for Scotch. Earlier this month, Starmer and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi struck a deal that slashed tariffs on Scotch whisky from 150% to 75% - still astronomically high but paving the way for a foray into what experts say is the world's biggest whisky market. Still, in the more immediate future, McKenzie-Smith said he needs the US. So he started working with his partners abroad to craft language in negotiations that made any deal 'subject to the tariffs being what they are on that day'. He said the conversations have dragged on, slowly, as both sides wait to see what Trump decides and if that policy sticks. 'He's changed the way we think about how we work with the States,' he said. 'It's not quite death by a thousand cuts, because we're not dead yet.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump's estranged niece Mary has unusual take on how the Epstein drama is impacting the president
Donald Trump 's niece theorized that even if the president is somehow ousted from office over the Jeffrey Epstein files, she doesn't think it will end the MAGA movement. Mary Trump, who has been vocal in her condemnation of her uncle, now feels the issue transcends President Trump. 'Donald Trump isn't the problem anymore,' Mary, 60, insisted during her on-camera question-and-answer session live-streamed on Sunday on Mary Trump Media. She thinks that Vice President J.D. Vance and the group of loyalists that Trump has surrounded himself with during his second term will only carry on the same brand of politics as the current president and that even his ouster can't stop what has already been put in motion. While the handling of the Epstein files and overall response to the child sex trafficking case has come under immense criticism by his own base, Trump maintains a steadfast following that likely won't waver. Some who have fiercely stood by Trump during other controversial times are now demanding more answers from the administration. Trump maintains that anyone who believes the 'Epstein hoax' isn't a true supporter. A joint Justice Department and FBI memo released earlier this month concluded that Epstein did kill himself in prison, that there was no so-called 'client list' and that no one else would be charged in relation to the horrific crimes. Mary thinks that while the whole ordeal has 'weakened' Trump's standing, she acknowledges it's unlikely to permanently bring down him or his political movement. Mary said that the MAGA movement transcends Trump – and even if he were ousted for the Epstein files, the same activity would carry on through the political style. Pictured: Trump holds meetings at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland on July 27, 2025 'Do you think the focus on the Epstein files will finally be the catalyst for the MAGA movement ending over a period of time,' a viewer questioned Mary during her live stream 'ask me anything'. After a pause, she replied: 'Maybe in the long term, but not in the short term.' 'I think in the short term it weakens Donald considerably,' she added of her uncle. 'And it reveals the truth about him to people who maybe haven't been [paying attention].' She said the issue of the Epstein files goes 'right to the heart of his base' and shatters the glass for some supporters who have in the past blindly believed whatever the president has fed them. 'I can't say for sure that it will, you know, knock him out of the presidency because, even if it implicates him, nobody's going to indict him,' she added. This alludes to the fierce loyalty Trump, 79, has cultivated within his administration. Unlike his first term, where internal pushback would sometimes make Trump take pause on some more radical ideas, his second term team is composed of those who have fully embraced the MAGA ethos. Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for 'official acts,' which will protect Trump if he argues any potential criminal actions were taken in the interest of the country is his capacity in the presidential office. Mary claimed: 'Theoretically if [the Epstein files] did… end his reign of power, J.D. Vance becomes president.' 'We need to remember this, it's really important– I'm not saying this shouldn't all play out, because of course it should,' Mary said. 'What I'm saying is, Donald Trump isn't the problem anymore – that's what I'm saying.' 'And we need to be very, very clear about that.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mary Trump Says Uncle Donald ‘Isn't the Problem Anymore'
President Donald Trump's niece believes that while the Jeffrey Epstein files crisis might weaken him, her uncle 'isn't the problem anymore.' Mary L. Trump, 60, an outspoken critic of her father's younger brother, was responding to a question Sunday during an 'Ask Me Anything' Q&A session on X about whether she thought the Epstein files would serve as the 'catalyst for the MAGA movement ending over a period of time.' 'Maybe in the long term, but not in the short term,' Mary said. She added that, in the immediate future, the outrage among Trump's base over his handling of the late sex offender's case weakens him 'considerably.' 'This goes right to the heart of his base,' said the psychologist and author, who in 2020 published a tell-all book on Trump, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. But she's far less certain about how things will play out in the long haul, even as the Epstein files bring Trump's personal relationship with the convicted sex offender under an intensifying spotlight. 'Even if it implicates him, nobody's going to indict him,' Mary said, alluding to both the fierce loyalty Trump, 79, has cultivated within his administration and the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for 'official acts.' She then theorized, 'if it did kind of end his reign of power, J.D. Vance becomes president.' 'We need to remember this, it's really important—I'm not saying this shouldn't all play out, because of course it should,' Mary said. 'What I'm saying is, Donald Trump isn't the problem anymore. That's what I'm saying. And we need to be very, very clear about that.' During his second term, Trump has assembled a team of supporters who have fully embraced his MAGA brand of politics, unlike in his first term, when internal pushback would sometimes curb his most extreme ideas. Mary, a psychologist, said Trump is reenacting their family dynamic—one where his father, Fred Trump, controlled everyone in his orbit. She noted, however, that 'Donald is acting like he's always acted.' 'The arrogance was always there. The insecure defensiveness was always there. The bullying was always there,' she said. Mary also claimed that Trump's wild rant about windmills on Sunday is 'evidence of serious cognitive impairment.' The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump is still ‘stinging' from brutal TACO jibe, a member of his family claims, so he decided to attack Iran
The estranged niece of President Donald Trump has accused him of bombing Iran because he 'wasn't getting enough attention' and claims he was likely still 'stinging' as a result of his brutal new nickname from critics. 'As a country, we are at war and the man who led us into this war is a corrupt, degraded, ignorant know-nothing who acted illegally to plunge us into a potentially catastrophic situation without the consent of Congress because, despite the fact that he is the president of the United States of America and arguably the most recognized figure on the planet, he wasn't getting enough attention,' Mary Trump wrote Sunday on Substack. Mary Trump, a psychologist and writer who has long been critical of her uncle, notes it's time Americans 'stop imputing some deeper or reasonable motives to Donald Trump.' 'Despite being depraved and cruel, much like his cohort (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu, he is driven by the most primitive impulses that center almost solely around protecting his fragile ego from humiliation (about which he has a pathological terror) and himself from the reality that he is a complete fraud,' she continued. She continued: 'Donald is still no doubt stinging from the acronym recently coined to mock his inability to follow through on anything – TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.' The nickname TACO, short for, 'Trump Always Chickens Out,' stems from the president's habit of making tariff threats, resulting in a drop in the markets, only for him to change course and see the markets rebound. In the post, Mary Trump called out her uncle for backing off Israel after it bombed Iran, prompting criticism from some of his most ardent defenders, before he ordered the U.S. attack just days later. 'His allies would have us believe that Donald, a brilliant strategist, was faking us out. Sure. An infinitely more plausible explanation is that, on the one hand, he hates being challenged or contradicted, especially from those who almost always fall in line; therefore, he felt the need to double down on his threats by carrying them out,' she wrote. 'On the other hand, Donald is a desperate black hole of need – by changing the narrative, he could make sure the spotlight turned back on him,' she continued. Mary Trump has long been a vocal critic of her uncle, sharing in a recent interview that she was 'devastated' by his rise to power in 2016 and said he 'never evolved' from the man she knew growing up as a child. 'I handled the 2016 election badly. I was devastated by it. I took it really personally because I felt like the worst person on the planet was being elevated at the expense of better people,' she told the BBC last month. 'How I responded to the election prefigured how I responded to everything else [later in his term] because I knew it was going to be unspeakably awful,' she continued. 'And I saw the specific policies and the ways in which those policies were designed to be cruel and to have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable people in the country.'
Newsweek
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Mary Trump Issues Warning on Long-Term Impact of Donald Trump Move
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Mary Trump issued a warning about President Donald Trump's cuts to the civil service after the U.S. Supreme Court handed him a major win on Tuesday. Newsweek reached out to the White House and Mary Trump for comment via email. Why It Matters The Supreme Court handed down an 8-1 decision to stay a pending appeal, allowing the Trump administration to continue directing agencies to develop reduction in force (RIF) plans. The ruling will allow the administration to resume layoffs at 19 agencies. Trump has sought to cut the federal bureaucracy upon his return to the White House in January, but those efforts have faced criticisms and legal challenges from workers, unions, nonprofits and local governments who oppose large-scale federal job cuts. Mary Trump attends the Hay festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, on May 26, 2025. Mary Trump attends the Hay festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, on May 26, To Know Mary Trump, the president's estranged niece, responded to the ruling in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, issuing a warning about the long-term impact of the cuts. "Along with firing them, what is happening is he's destroying, in yet another context, institutional memory that it will take us perhaps generations to get back," she said. She also addressed why she believes Trump is targeting the civil service. "One thing the Trump regime has done since day one of its current incarnation is destroy the civil service in America. Why? Well because again it is there to serve us, not the rich and powerful, not those who want us not to have any rights, but us," she said, noting these workers are generally "nonpartisan." She questioned why two liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices—Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor—joined conservatives in the decision. "This is not an insignificant thing. It gives him even more power than the corrupt, illegitimate majority of the Supreme Court has already given him. I do not know what in God's name Justice Sotomayor and Justice Kagan were thinking," she said. Mary Trump has remained a vocal critic of her uncle's policies, frequently raising alarms about what she describes as threats to American democracy amid his second term in office. What People Are Saying National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) President Randy Erwin in a statement opposing the court's ruling: "Despite the Supreme Court's decision, NFFE and our labor allies will continue to defend federal employees and the essential services they provide to the American people. It is our view that the Constitution does not allow the President to implement mass layoffs or a reckless reorganization of the civil service without the approval of Congress. Yesterday's ruling does not change that fact, and we will continue to make this argument as the judicial process plays out." White House spokesperson Harrison Fields responded to the ruling in a statement previously given to Newsweek: "Today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling is another definitive victory for the President and his administration. It clearly rebukes the continued assaults on the President's constitutionally authorized executive powers by leftist judges who are trying to prevent the President from achieving government efficiency across the federal government." Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, on X: "The Supreme Court just gave Donald Trump the green light to fire THOUSANDS of federal workers. Those are Social Security workers who help seniors get their checks on time, public health workers who keep us safe, and more. Trump wants to make it HARDER for people to get help." What Happens Next The court's ruling does not address the legality of the agency plans and the case will continue moving through the judicial system.
