Balmedie, Scotland — President Trump is because of arrive in Scotland Friday for a four-day personal journey — his first to the U.Ok since he was re-elected. The White Home says he’ll meet close to the top 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’s a stunningly lovely location, and it’s straightforward 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.
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’s been proper in the midst of Trump territory, surrounded by tons of of acres of shifting sand dunes which were meticulously sculpted into 36 holes that anybody can play a spherical on — for about $500.
Donald Trump is seen enjoying golf at considered one of his Scottish golf programs, in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, in a file photograph taken throughout a go to to the U.Ok. on Could 2, 2023, within the interval between his two phrases as U.S. president.
Jane Barlow/PA Pictures/Getty
Milne isn’t pleased about his new neighbor.
Mr. Trump first bought the land in 2006, and through improvement he provided to purchase a number of the neighbors’ locations, too, however Milne refused to promote.
In 2011, Mr. Trump mentioned he didn’t just like the look of Milne’s property anyway.
“Who cares,” the long run president advised the Golf Channel, pointing to Milne’s dwelling. “We’re trying to build the greatest course in the world. The house is ugly.”
Requested what the land means to himself and his household, Milne mentioned it was far more than only a patch of picturesque shoreline.
“Land is what Scotland is. Not just financially, it’s in the soul of the Scottish people as well. It is where we come from, and where we go back to,” he mentioned.
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 latest months.
“You are not welcome here,” he mentioned. “The policies that he represents are completely at odds with what we value here.”
“The way he treated the neighbors and property owners, I think that influenced us all badly,” mentioned one lady.
However the course employs greater than 80 folks, and the White Home says it has had a constructive financial affect within the space.
“Not saying the protests are not right,” he added. “Some of the stuff, I’d agree with the protesters, but I think there’s a time and a place for it, and it’s 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 vogue — they’re unlikely to cease a great spherical of golf.
Extra from CBS Information
