Balmedie, Scotland — President Trump is because of arrive in Scotland Friday for a four-day non-public journey — his first to the U.Ok since he was re-elected. The White Home says he’ll meet close to the tip of his go to with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to debate commerce, however he’ll even be opening a brand-new course on the Trump Worldwide Golf Hyperlinks.
Set on Scotland’s rugged northeast coast, it is a stunningly lovely location, and it is easy to see why Mr. Trump was eager to buy the positioning greater than a decade in the past and develop it right into a world-class golf membership.
However as CBS Information discovered from talking with locals, many wrestle to separate the American president’s politics from his placing inexperienced.
David Milne purchased his previous Coast Guard look-out on the Aberdeenshire coast over 20 years in the past, and he nonetheless lives there at present. However since 2012, it has been proper in the course of Trump territory, surrounded by a whole bunch of acres of shifting sand dunes which have been meticulously sculpted into 36 holes that anybody can play a spherical on — for about $500.
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Milne is not joyful about his new neighbor.
“It is all the time second-best to what was there initially,” he advised CBS Information. “After I got here in right here, this panorama was untouched… now it is only a golf course.”
Mr. Trump first bought the land in 2006, and through growth he supplied to purchase a number of the neighbors’ locations, too, however Milne refused to promote.
In 2011, Mr. Trump stated he did not just like the look of Milne’s property anyway.
“Who cares,” the longer term president advised the Golf Channel, pointing to Milne’s dwelling. “We’re making an attempt to construct the best course on the planet. The home is ugly.”
Requested what the land means to himself and his household, Milne stated it was far more than only a patch of picturesque shoreline.
“Land is what Scotland is. Not simply financially, it is within the soul of the Scottish individuals as effectively. It’s the place we come from, and the place we return to,” he stated.
The go to to Scotland is a homecoming for Mr. Trump, too. His mom, born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912, grew up on a the Scottish Hebridean island of Lewis. He named considered one of his programs in Aberdeenshire after her.
Mr. Trump has been met with protests on earlier visits, and vandalism at his golf programs has taken a political tone in current months.
Tommy Campbell, a veteran labor union activist in Scotland, advised CBS Information he was planning to guide one other protest through the U.S. chief’s go to this weekend, with a transparent message for Mr. Trump:
“You aren’t welcome right here,” he stated. “The insurance policies that he represents are utterly at odds with what we worth right here.”
A ballot carried out in February discovered round 70% of Scots have an unfavorable opinion of President Trump. Within the village close to his golf hyperlinks, CBS Information spoke with the members of a strolling membership, who maintain a grudge.
“The best way he handled the neighbors and property homeowners, I feel that influenced us all badly,” stated one lady.
However the course employs greater than 80 individuals, and the White Home says it has had a constructive financial affect within the space.
One native man — a golfer — advised CBS Information the enterprise Mr. Trump has carried out, “from a golf perspective, is incredible.”
“Not saying the protests aren’t proper,” he added. “A number of the stuff, I might agree with the protesters, however I feel there is a time and a spot for it, and it is not on the golf course.”
Opinions about President Trump are a bit just like the climate in Aberdeenshire. However honest or foul — in true Scottish trend — they’re unlikely to cease a great spherical of golf.
