Trump Unveils Fortified ‘Golf Force One' In Scotland
Trump golfs in Scotland. (Photo by Jeff) Getty Images
While playing golf at the Trump Turnberry course in Scotland over the weekend, Trump was photographed riding in a standard white golf cart while what appeared to be a fortified black golf cart, completely covered by doors and dark windows, followed closely behind him.
A White House spokesperson confirmed to Forbes the black golf cart is 'part of the Presidential fleet of specialty vehicles,' but declined to comment on whether Trump will regularly take the cart with him on future golfing trips.
The cart appears to be a Polaris Ranger X model, and Polaris confirmed to defense industry outlet The War Zone it manufactured the vehicle but someone else modified it to add fortification (Forbes has reached out to Polaris for comment).
Forbes has reached out to the Secret Service and Polaris for comment.
The armored golf cart, "Golf Course One," alongside other golf carts during Trump's trip to ... More Scotland. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg © 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP
Multiple experts told The Telegraph the armored golf cart contains several tell-tale signs of being fortified, including a black band around the windshield. 'The thing that gives it away is the front windscreen,' Gary Relf, who runs Armoured Car Services, a company that provides fortified vehicles to public figures and wealthy people, told the Telegraph, stating the vehicle appears to be armored. An unnamed British policing expert told The Telegraph the 'side panels, doors, and the large panel at the rear above the load tray' also appear to be armored, stating the vehicle appears to be defensively fortified and is not offensive.
Trump's debut of his fortified golf cart comes nearly a year after a man was charged with attempted assassination of the then-presidential candidate at his Florida golf course in West Palm Beach. In September 2024, prosecutors say 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was spotted by Secret Service agents aiming a rifle at a member of Trump's security detail while he golfed at the Trump International Golf Club. A Secret Service agent fired at Routh, who fled in his vehicle and was later caught and arrested. Routh was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and three other weapons charges. The incident happened two months after Trump survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. How Else Has Trump Stepped Up Security?
After the assassination attempts, Trump bolstered his security measures when making public appearances. Following the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt, Trump began speaking behind bulletproof glass. Trump also reportedly appeared to be surrounded by more security agents following the attempts. In a Truth Social post in September, Trump blamed Iran for 'threats on my life,' stating he is 'surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before.' In September, Congress passed a bill boosting security for presidential candidates, which entitled Trump and then-Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to the same level of Secret Service protection as then-President Joe Biden. Tangent
Trump's visit to Scotland was expected to cost Scottish taxpayers millions to cover increased security, the Associated Press reported. His four-day stop in the United Kingdom in 2018 reportedly cost about $19 million for policing. Trump's visit to Scotland sparked protests among locals, some of whom were angered at the cost his visit would impose on taxpayers. Further Reading
'Why isn't he paying?' Trump's golf visit to cost Scottish taxpayers (Associated Press)
Golf Force One: Armour-plated cart follows Trump around course (The Telegraph)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
President Trump fires BLS commissioner after July jobs report
President Trump said in a social media post Friday afternoon that he directed members of his administration to fire Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after the BLS on Friday published the July jobs report that contained what it called "larger than normal" revisions to data from May and June. The July jobs report published Friday morning showed the US economy added 73,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%. The most notable number to emerge from the report, however, was a downward revision to job gains in May and June which that saw 258,000 jobs taken away from what had been initially reported. May's job gains were revised down to 19,000 from 144,000, while June's additions were cut to just 14,000 from the 147,000 initially reported. In its release on Friday, the BLS said these revisions, "result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors." Economists on Friday were near-unanimous in their view that July's jobs data and the revisions to May and June reflect a labor market that is far weaker than had been suggested by recent data and characterizations by some officials, notably Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. "The 'solid' state of the labor market described by the FOMC earlier this week looks more questionable after the July employment report," Wells Fargo senior economists Sarah House wrote in a note Friday. Job gains over the last three months have now averaged just 35,000 after Friday's revisions. This is breaking news, more to come...
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Taps Banks For Fannie, Freddie IPO Ideas
Trump pulled in big-bank CEOs to pitch how to turn Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) back into public companies, and the market reacted fastafter-hours the two mortgage giants popped about 15% and 6% on light volume. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Sign with FNMA. The conversations are wide open and informal: Jamie Dimon has already been in the room after years of cool relations, David Solomon was slated to meet Thursday, and Brian Moynihan is up next. Other banks are likely in the mix too as the White House crowdsources ideas on structuring a major public stock offering that would monetize the government's stake. Both GSEs have been in conservatorship since 2008, but the pitch is leaning on the narrative that they've rebuilt capital, paid back federal support, and could be shifted toward private markets. The meetings are exploratory, and there's no clean roadmap yet officials have signaled that conservatorship isn't suddenly ending, so any shift would take time and political alignment. That ambiguity is why the pop feels part hope, part speculation. The talks put a long-dormant privatization story back into play and give investors a reason to price a potential regime change. The next few days of follow-up meetings and any clearer White House signal will tell if this is groundwork or just noise. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
This week in Trumponomics: The Trump slowdown is here
Economists have been warning that President Trump's trade wars will depress growth and hiring. Trump and his defenders say pshaw. But the Trump economy is suddenly looking shaky. Hiring slowed dramatically in July, and downward revisions for the two prior months reveal the weakest job market since the COVID recession in 2020. Employers added just 73,000 jobs in July, with the average for the past three months an anemic 35,000. In 2024, job growth averaged 168,000 new jobs per month. Up till now, Trump has waged his trade war with impunity. His tariffs have raised the average tax on imports from 2.5% to about 18%. That's a hefty tax on some $3 trillion worth of goods, paid by American businesses and consumers. Yet inflation is still below 3%. The stock market flinched in April and May but has since hit a series of new record highs. The second quarter of 2025, however, is now looking like it may have been the last respite before Trump's disruptive policies take their it's not just hiring. Second quarter GDP rose by 3%, which would be solid in normal times. But the numbers are distorted by a surge of imports in the first quarter and a corresponding plunge in the second. Even it out, and GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was a weak 1.2%. That's less than half the growth rate in the first half of 2024, which was a more robust 2.8%. Many companies are beginning to say Trump's tariffs are harming profits, including bellwethers Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Procter & Gamble (PG). The US manufacturing sector has contracted for five months in a row, and manufacturing employment has dropped for three months straight. Tariff-related inflation might also be materializing. The inflation rate inched up from 2.4% in May to 2.7% in June. There were notable month-to-month price hikes in product categories dominated by tariffs, including clothing, appliances, sporting goods, and toys. Consumers don't normally notice small monthly price hikes, but they notice for sure if price hikes persist and stuff continually gets more expensive. All of these trends are exactly what the many critics of Trump's trade wars have predicted. Tariffs raise costs for any firm or household dependent on imports. Higher costs reduce spending and investment. Trump's episodic tariff announcements also create uncertainty because affected businesses can't predict future costs. That creates an incentive to wait instead of investing, expanding, or hiring. The net effect is lower growth, lower employment, and possibly stagflation. Read More: What is stagflation, and how does it impact you? It's possible that Trump will get the message and wind down his trade wars. But not before more chaos. Just as Trump was inking trade deals with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and the European Union, he upped the ante on some five dozen other countries by threatening tariffs on their imports as high as 40%, including a new 35% rate — up from 25% — on some Canadian imports. The US stock market had been hovering near record levels on the hope that the worst of Trump's tariff fulminations were over. But stocks sank anew on Aug. 1 on the latest tariff shock, plus the lousy job numbers. There's yet another tariff deadline, Aug. 7, when the latest barrage of tariffs will go into effect unless those 60-odd countries make trade deals with Trump. Some of them probably will. But the new regime of higher tariffs is here to stay, and whether the average tariff rate is 18% or 20% or 22%, everybody's going to have to deal with Trump's new import taxes. Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances The consolation prize is that the weakening economy makes the Federal Reserve much more likely to cut interest rates in the fall. Odds of a quarter-point rate cut in September jumped from 38% to 81% after the latest job and tariff news, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. Trump, of course, has been hectoring the Fed to cut rates, and the weakening Trump economy now gives it a reason to. Most economists think the economy will slow from 2.8% GDP growth in 2024 to around 1% in 2025 and 2026. That's not a recession, but weak growth will make jobs more scarce, keep a lid on wages, and intensify the economic blahs many people feel. It's probably happening now. Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Bluesky and X: @rickjnewman. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
