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Trump's golf trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors
Trump's golf trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Trump's golf trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors

BALMEDIE, Scotland − Long before talk of hush-money payments, election subversion or mishandling classified documents, before his executive orders were the subject of U.S. Supreme Court challenges, before he was the 45th and then the 47th president: on a wild and windswept stretch of beach in northeast Scotland, Donald Trump the businessman was accused of being a bad neighbor. "This place will never, ever belong to Trump," Michael Forbes, 73, a retired quarry worker and salmon fisherman, said this week as he took a break from fixing a roof on his farm near Aberdeen. The land he owns is surrounded, though disguised in places by trees and hedges, by a golf resort owned by Trump's family business in Scotland, Trump International Scotland. For nearly 20 years, Forbes and several other families who live in Balmedie have resisted what they describe as bullying efforts by Trump to buy their land. (He has denied the allegations.) They and others also say he's failed to deliver on his promises to bring thousands of jobs to the area. Those old wounds are being reopened as Trump returns to Scotland for a four-day visit beginning July 25. It's the country where his mother was born. He appears to have great affection for it. Trump is visiting his golf resorts at Turnberry, on the west coast about 50 miles from Glasgow, and at Balmedie, where Forbes' 23 acres of jumbled, tractor-strewn land, which he shares with roaming chickens and three Highland cows, abut Trump's glossy and manicured golf resort. On July 28, Trump will briefly meet in Balmedie with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to "refine" a recent U.S.-U.K. trade deal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Golf, a little diplomacy: Trump heads to Scotland In Scotland, where estimates from the National Library of Scotland suggest that as many as 34 out of the 45 American presidents have Scottish ancestry, opinions hew toward the he's-ill-suited-for-the-job, according to surveys. "Trump? He just doesn't know how to treat people," said Forbes, who refuses to sell. What Trump's teed up in Scotland Part of the Balmedie community's grievances relate to Trump's failure to deliver on his promises. According to planning documents, public accounts and his own statements, Trump promised, beginning in 2006, to inject $1.5 billion into his golf project six miles north of Aberdeen. He has spent about $120 million. Approval for the development, he vowed, came with more than 1,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction gigs attached. Instead, there were 84, meaning fewer than the 100 jobs that already existed when the land he bought was a shooting range. Instead of a 450-room luxury hotel and hundreds of homes that Trump pledged to build for the broader community, there is a 19-room boutique hotel and a small clubhouse with a restaurant and shop that sells Trump-branded whisky, leather hip flasks and golf paraphernalia. Financial filings show that his course on the Menie Estate in Balmedie lost $1.9 million in 2023 − its 11th consecutive financial loss since he acquired the 1,400-acre grounds in 2006. Residents who live and work near the course say that most days, even in the height of summer, the fairway appears to be less than half full. Representatives for Trump International say the plan all along has been to gradually phase in the development at Balmedie and that it is not realistic or fair to expect everything to be built overnight. There's also support for Trump from some residents who live nearby, and in the wider Aberdeen business community. One Balmedie resident who lives in the shadow of Trump's course said that before Trump the area was nothing but featureless sand dunes and that his development, carved between those dunes, made the entire landscape look more attractive. Fergus Mutch, a policy advisor for the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said Trump's golf resort has become a "key bit of the tourism offer" that attracts "significant spenders" to a region gripped by economic turmoil, steep job cuts and a prolonged downturn in its North Sea oil and gas industry. Trump in Scotland: Liked or loathed? Still, recent surveys show that 70% of Scots hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Despite his familial ties and deepening investments in Scotland, Trump is more unpopular among Scots than with the British public overall, according to an Ipsos survey from March. It shows 57% of people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don't view Trump positively. King Charles invites Trump: American president snags another UK state visit While in Balmedie this time, Trump will open a new 18-hole golf course on his property dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was a native of Lewis, in Scotland's Western Isles. He is likely to be met with a wave of protests around the resort, as well as the one in Turnberry. The Stop Trump Coalition, a group of campaigners who oppose most of Trump's domestic and foreign policies and the way he conducts his private and business affairs, is organizing a protest in Aberdeen and outside the U.S. consulate in Edinburgh. During Trump's initial visit to Scotland as president, in his first term, thousands of protesters sought to disrupt his visit, lining key routes and booing him. One protester even flew a powered paraglider into the restricted airspace over his Turnberry resort that bore a banner that read, "Trump: well below par #resist." 'Terrific guy': The Trump-Epstein party boy friendship lasted a decade, ended badly Trump's course in Turnberry has triggered less uproar than his Balmedie one because locals say that he's invested millions of dollars to restore the glamour of its 101-year-old hotel and three golf courses after he bought the site in 2014. Trump versus the families Three families still live directly on or adjacent to Trump's Balmedie golf resort. They say that long before the world had any clue about what type of president a billionaire New York real estate mogul and reality-TV star would become, they had a pretty good idea. Forbes is one of them. He said that shortly after Trump first tried to persuade him and his late wife to sell him their farm, workers he hired deliberately sabotaged an underground water pipe that left the Forbes – and his mother, then in her 90s, lived in her own nearby house – without clean drinking water for five years. Trump International declined to provide a fresh comment on those allegations, but a spokesperson previously told USA TODAY it "vigorously refutes" them. It said that when workers unintentionally disrupted a pipe that ran into an "antiquated" makeshift "well" jointly owned by the Forbeses on Trump's land, it was repaired immediately. Trump has previously called Forbes a "disgrace" who "lives like a pig." 'I don't have a big enough flagpole' David Milne, 61, another of Trump's seething Balmedie neighbors, lives in a converted coast guard station with views overlooking Trump's course and of the dunes and the North Sea beyond. In 2009, Trump offered him and his wife about $260,000 for his house and its one-fifth acre of land, Milne said. Trump was caught on camera saying he wanted to remove it because it was "ugly." Trump, he said, "threw in some jewelry," a golf club membership (Milne doesn't play), use of a spa (not yet built) and the right to buy, at cost, a house in a related development (not yet constructed). Milne valued the offer at about half the market rate. When Milne refused that offer, he said that landscapers working for Trump partially blocked the views from his house by planting a row of trees and sent Milne a $3,500 bill for a fence they'd built around his garden. Milne refused to pay. Over the years, Milne has pushed back. He flew a Mexican flag at his house for most of 2016, after Trump vowed to build a wall on the southern American border and make Mexico pay for it. Milne, a health and safety consultant in the energy industry, has hosted scores of journalists and TV crews at his home, where he has patiently explained the pros and cons − mostly cons, in his view, notwithstanding his own personal stake in the matter − of Trump's development for the local area. Milne said that because of his public feud with Trump, he's a little worried a freelance MAGA supporter could target him or his home. He has asked police to provide protection for him and his wife at his home while Trump is in the area. He also said he won't be flying any flags this time, apart from the Saltire, Scotland's national flag. "I don't have a big enough flagpole. I would need one from Mexico, Canada, Palestine. I would need Greenland, Denmark − you name it," he said, running through some of the places toward which Trump has adopted what critics view as aggressive and adversarial policies. Dunes of great natural importance Martin Ford was the local Aberdeen government official who originally oversaw Trump's planning application to build the Balmedie resort in 2006. He was part of a planning committee that rejected it over environmental concerns because the course would be built between sand dunes that were designated what the UK calls a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the way they shift over time. The Scottish government swiftly overturned that ruling on the grounds that Trump's investment in the area would bring a much-needed economic boost. Neil Hobday, who was the project director for Trump's course in Balmedie, last year told the BBC he was "hoodwinked" by Trump over his claim that he would spend more than a billion dollars on it. Hobday said he felt "ashamed that I fell for it and Scotland fell for it. We all fell for it." The dunes lost their special status in 2020, according to Nature Scot, the agency that oversees such designations. It concluded that their special features had been "partially destroyed" by Trump's resort. Trump International disputes that finding, saying the issue became "highly politicized." For years, Trump also fought to block the installation of a wind farm off his resort's coast. He lost that fight. The first one was built in 2018. There are now 11 turbines. Ford has since retired but stands by his belief that allowing approval for the Trump resort was a mistake. "I feel cheated out of a very important natural habitat, which we said we would protect and we haven't," he said. "Trump came here and made a lot of promises that haven't materialized. In return, he was allowed to effectively destroy a nature site of great conservation value. It's not the proper behavior of a decent person." Forbes, the former quarry worker and fisherman, said he viewed Trump in similar terms. He said that Trump "will never ever get his hands on his farm." He said that wasn't just idle talk. He said he's put his land in a trust that specified that when he dies, it can't be sold for at least 125 years. Kim Hjelmgaard is an international correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow him on Bluesky, Instagram and LinkedIn. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors

‘People have seen through him and he's not welcome': Scotland tees up for Trump visit
‘People have seen through him and he's not welcome': Scotland tees up for Trump visit

The Guardian

time4 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Guardian

‘People have seen through him and he's not welcome': Scotland tees up for Trump visit

Rohan Beyts first visited the dunes overlooking the slate grey North Sea at Menie, Aberdeenshire, as a teenager. Later she brought her own children to play across the spectacular landscape of dunes and slacks, vibrant with butterflies and wildflowers. Beyts attended the initial meeting called in 2006 to galvanise local resistance to the then business tycoon Donald Trump's plans to bulldoze this legally protected site of ecological rarity to make way for his first Scottish golf resort. 'I've been at this for 19 years,' she says, ahead of the now US president's expected Friday evening arrival in Scotland. 'I'm still disgusted by what Trump did at Menie and now what he is doing across the rest of the world.' After a bitter and protracted dispute with local people and environmentalists, who fought to save the dunes and the dwellings around them, Trump eventually won planning permission to build 'the world's greatest golf course'. At the time, he promised a £1bn coastal resort including expansive courses, luxury housing and high-rise timeshare flats – promises Beyts points out have yet to be fulfilled. 'Where's the huge development that was heralded as replacement jobs for the oil industry? I don't understand how the politicians were so taken in,' she adds. Beyts, who later won a moral victory in court against Trump International staff who photographed her when she paused to answer the call of nature on a walk around the dunes, will not be protesting against the president's latest visit. 'I fully support people who want to demonstrate and if I thought it would make any difference to people in Gaza or Ukraine I would, but I worry it plays to his ego.' David Milne was one of the local people whose refused to budge after Trump tried twice to buy his home, a former coastguard station Trump described as a 'visual slum', and then attempted to secure a compulsory purchase order. 'His entire attitude was one of entitled arrogance – 'I will do what I like.' People up here have a bad habit of saying: 'I don't think so,'' says Milne. On one of Trump's previous visits to Menie, Milne flew a Mexican flag from his flagpole in solidarity with those targeted during the Republican's first presidential term. This time he will fly the saltire. 'People are upset that this is being described as a private visit yet there's a huge cost to the country for security. Things are tight enough – why are we paying for this? He's pulling British police into a deliberate stunt for publicity for his new course,' says Milne. While Beyts and Milne are willing to reflect on their years of resistance, and the close friendships forged, they acknowledge that others are exhausted by the relentless disruption and media interest that accompanies proximity to the resort. The police have already knocked on Milne's door to warn him about access restrictions. However, Tommy Campbell, a local trade unionist who will compere the 'festival of resistance' planned for Aberdeen city centre on Saturday, says peaceful protesters will get as close to the resort as possible on Tuesday morning, when Trump is expected to open his new golf course, with the intention of writing protest messages in the sand at Balmedie beach while the tide is out. 'The world has changed since he first appeared in Aberdeen as a businessman and some people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,' says Campbell. 'People have seen through him and he's not welcome.' Like Beyts and Milne, Campbell also expresses his disappointment that Keir Starmer and the Scottish first minister, John Swinney, will meet Trump during the president's visit. 'They are not representing the true feelings of the people of Scotland,' he says. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Across Scotland, on the west coast, the residents of Turnberry are facing road diversions, security checkpoints and a swelling police presence, with transit vehicles trundling along the country roads. There is metal fencing around Trump's luxury resort and lines of police in hi-vis jackets blocking the beach, where the late Janey Godley regularly stood to greet him with her infamous handwritten protest sign: 'Trump is a cunt.' In March, Trump described members of a pro-Palestine group accused of vandalising the Turnberry course by painting the grass with the words 'Gaza is not 4 sale' as 'terrorists'. On Friday, some local people were exercised about the 'partial lockdown' they found themselves in. One pensioner questioned why the UK government was contributing to expensive policing for what is a private visit while limiting his generation's winter fuel payments. But others mentioned the employment Trump had brought to the area. Menie's new course is dedicated to the president's late mother, Mary Anne Trump, who was raised on the Isle of Lewis, further up the west coast, before immigrating to the US. In Lewis's main town of Stornoway, Sarah Venus has rehung the protest banner she was ordered by the local council to remove in May. It reads: 'Shame on you Donald John,' a maternal-style admonishment prompted by his treatment of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a White House press conference in February. The banner will now go on a tour of the island around private homes, as Trump's visit continues into next week. 'This time the protests will be a bit different because of the broader context,' says Venus. 'People are beginning to connect the dots and realise this is a transnational struggle against fascism. It's not just happening over there in the US and maybe there's an opportunity to be vigilant and head it off over here.' The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.

Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry
Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

A major security operation is ramping up as Donald Trump begins a four-day private visit in Scotland. The US president arrived at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening and stayed at his luxury golf resort, Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire. Wearing a white "USA" cap and accompanied by his second son Eric, he teed off for a round of golf at about 10:00 on his first morning at the resort. Trump is due to meet UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney over the next few days, as well as opening a second 18-hole course at his estate in Aberdeenshire. In pictures: President Trump arrives in Scotland Trump says 'great to be in Scotland', as he lands for four-day trip What do we know about Donald Trump's visit to Scotland? The president said it was "great to be in Scotland" and has praised the leaders of both governments. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in both Aberdeen and Edinburgh to protest against the visit. Anita Bhadani was among those who helped organise the Stop Trump Coalition protest outside the US Consulate General's office in Edinburgh. She said: "We are really excited, across this whole weekend, there's so many campaign groups turning out in the streets, taking in action in their communities or at rallies like this. "It's kind of like a carnival of resistance." Many people at the protests carried signs referring to an expletive slogan made infamous by the late comedian Janey Godley in 2018. Questions have already been raised about the scale of the visit and the security implications, with police representatives raising concerns about the costs involved and the impact on staffing. Journalists, photographers and plane watchers were among the crowds who gathered to see Air Force One touch down at Prestwick just before 20:30 on Friday. Trump was greeted by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Warren Stephens, US Ambassador to the UK. The president spoke with journalists before a motorcade made up of more than two dozen vehicles escorted him to Turnberry. A number of roads have been closed in the area while police and military personnel have been carrying out sweeps around the resort. A security checkpoint has been put in place outside the hotel and a large fence has been erected around the course. While security remains tight around Turnberry, some golfers were able to use the Ailsa course from about 07:30 - albeit in windy conditions. Drones and helicopters have also been circling overhead. Trump played his round of golf with his son Eric, as well as US Ambassador Warren Stephens and his son. Their entourage included 15 golf buggies. A round during peak summer season can cost £1,000 at Turnberry. There were no sign of any protesters around the course. Trump waved to photographers who had gathered on a beach dune for a vantage point as he walked to the fourth tee. The White House said that his son Donald Trump Jr was also accompanying him for the weekend. Trump's round coincided with an announcement by the Scottish government that £180,000 of public funding will support a tournament being held at his Aberdeenshire course next month. The 2025 Nexo Championship on the DP World Tour is taking place at Trump International Golf Links from 7-10 August. The Scottish government said the funding would go towards supporting delivery of the event. John Swinney said the cash boost showed the government "recognises the importance and benefits" of golf in the country. He added: "As the home of golf, we have a long-standing track record of support and I am proud this funding will further enhance Aberdeenshire's reputation as a leading golfing destination and I am hopeful of securing further golfing events in future years." Trump is expected to meet Swinney on Monday, the same day he will see Starmer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet the president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations. The US president will travel back to Washington on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in September. In his remarks to the press at Prestwick, Trump said European countries need to "get your act together" on migration, and "stop the windmills", referring to wind farms. In 2019, his company Trump International lost a long-running court battle to stop a wind power development being built in the North Sea off Aberdeen. Trump argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at Menie. Swinney has said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to "essentially speak out for Scotland" on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in Scotland. The first minister said he would also raise "significant international issues" including "the awfulness of the situation in Gaza". He urged those set to protest against the president's visit to do so "peacefully and to do so within the law". Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are rare. Queen Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in 1957. George W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in 2021. The only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the resort. He returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by Biden. Trump will have an official state visit to the UK in September when he and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. It is the second state visit he has been afforded - second-term US presidents are traditionally not offered state visits and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, usually at Windsor Castle.

Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry
Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

A major security operation is ramping up as Donald Trump begins a four-day private visit in Scotland. The US president arrived at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening and stayed at his luxury golf resort, Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire. Wearing a white "USA" cap and accompanied by his second son Eric, he teed off for a round of golf at about 10:00 on his first morning at the resort. Trump is due to meet UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney over the next few days, as well as opening a second 18-hole course at his estate in Aberdeenshire. In pictures: President Trump arrives in Scotland Trump says 'great to be in Scotland', as he lands for four-day trip What do we know about Donald Trump's visit to Scotland? The president said it was "great to be in Scotland" and has praised the leaders of both governments. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in both Aberdeen and Edinburgh to protest against the visit. Anita Bhadani was among those who helped organise the Stop Trump Coalition protest outside the US Consulate General's office in Edinburgh. She said: "We are really excited, across this whole weekend, there's so many campaign groups turning out in the streets, taking in action in their communities or at rallies like this. "It's kind of like a carnival of resistance." Many people at the protests carried signs referring to an expletive slogan made infamous by the late comedian Janey Godley in 2018. Questions have already been raised about the scale of the visit and the security implications, with police representatives raising concerns about the costs involved and the impact on staffing. Journalists, photographers and plane watchers were among the crowds who gathered to see Air Force One touch down at Prestwick just before 20:30 on Friday. Trump was greeted by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Warren Stephens, US Ambassador to the UK. The president spoke with journalists before a motorcade made up of more than two dozen vehicles escorted him to Turnberry. A number of roads have been closed in the area while police and military personnel have been carrying out sweeps around the resort. A security checkpoint has been put in place outside the hotel and a large fence has been erected around the course. While security remains tight around Turnberry, some golfers were able to use the Ailsa course from about 07:30 - albeit in windy conditions. Drones and helicopters have also been circling overhead. Trump played his round of golf with his son Eric, as well as US Ambassador Warren Stephens and his son. Their entourage included 15 golf buggies. A round during peak summer season can cost £1,000 at Turnberry. There were no sign of any protesters around the course. Trump waved to photographers who had gathered on a beach dune for a vantage point as he walked to the fourth tee. The White House said that his son Donald Trump Jr was also accompanying him for the weekend. Trump's round coincided with an announcement by the Scottish government that £180,000 of public funding will support a tournament being held at his Aberdeenshire course next month. The 2025 Nexo Championship on the DP World Tour is taking place at Trump International Golf Links from 7-10 August. The Scottish government said the funding would go towards supporting delivery of the event. John Swinney said the cash boost showed the government "recognises the importance and benefits" of golf in the country. He added: "As the home of golf, we have a long-standing track record of support and I am proud this funding will further enhance Aberdeenshire's reputation as a leading golfing destination and I am hopeful of securing further golfing events in future years." Trump is expected to meet Swinney on Monday, the same day he will see Starmer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet the president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations. The US president will travel back to Washington on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in September. In his remarks to the press at Prestwick, Trump said European countries need to "get your act together" on migration, and "stop the windmills", referring to wind farms. In 2019, his company Trump International lost a long-running court battle to stop a wind power development being built in the North Sea off Aberdeen. Trump argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at Menie. Swinney has said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to "essentially speak out for Scotland" on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in Scotland. The first minister said he would also raise "significant international issues" including "the awfulness of the situation in Gaza". He urged those set to protest against the president's visit to do so "peacefully and to do so within the law". Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are rare. Queen Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in 1957. George W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in 2021. The only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the resort. He returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by Biden. Trump will have an official state visit to the UK in September when he and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. It is the second state visit he has been afforded - second-term US presidents are traditionally not offered state visits and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, usually at Windsor Castle.

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