Return of The Donald: Scotland braces for Trump

There they were, ready for the taking: a T-shirt of Donald Trump relaxing in pool gear in the ‘Gulf of America’ and another tie-dye number bearing the slogan “I’m voting for the felon”.

Hanging amidst off-brand Mickey Mouse tees and stacks of preserved alligator skulls, the Trump tops were still amongst the most unusual keepsakes on offer in the souvenir shops of Florida. On a family holiday, I tried to convince my partner these were must-have items – eyepopping proof of just how different our worlds are. He convinced me he would absolutely not walk up to the counter and buy them, and so we flew back to Scotland without them.

It was probably for the best. After all, to what occasion can you – should you – wear a Trump top? Although, if there was going to be a chance to do so, it would probably be now, as the US president arrives in his mother’s country for a five-day private visit to his golf resorts in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire.

The man sure likes his golf – in his first six months in office, the Republican leader has made 35 trips to his own courses in New Jersey, Virginia and, of course, Florida. He spends so much time on greens that there’s even a website dedicated to it: didtrumpgolftoday.com.

Golf is of course what brought the former reality TV judge to Scotland in the first place. Land at Balmedie, with its “unspoilt” dunes, was deemed to be the perfect place for the European links course he coveted. Now developed into Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen, it’s arguably much less special than before – the dunes that were once a Site of Special Scientific Interest are now static and have lost that official designation.

The protests that once met his development ambitions have been replaced in the years since with demonstrations of a different kind, aimed at his politics. Late comedian Janey Godley saw her star rise after she turned out at Trump Turnberry with a sign stating that “Trump is a c**t” and, though this is a private rather than presidential visit, Police Scotland is bracing for crowds with similar opinions this week. A “festival of resistance” by the Stop Trump Coalition is promised.

It is Turnberry where his stay is set to begin, with just a night’s stopover up the road in Aberdeenshire. The brevity of that stay is unlikely to deter detractors from turning out – after all, a sign dubbing the venue ‘Epstein Island’, in reference to the president’s friendship with late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was placed there earlier in the week.

The closeness between the two businessmen is just one thing critics have against Trump, and the list is long – take your pick from Russia/Ukraine, immigration, Israel/Palestine, tariffs… Even the police are unhappy, with the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) announcing it would seek legal advice over operational plans for the visit.

Police Scotland has asked the Police Service of Northern Ireland for extra officers to help provide cover. But the SPF has raised concerns about officer welfare, saying minimum standards are at risk due to pressure on resources. The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents has echoed the point, saying the trip will “undoubtedly stretch all our resources from local policing divisions to specialist and support functions such as contact, command and control”.

If there is an irony in the fact that Scotland’s police are concerned about handling Trump, the first convicted felon to be elected to the presidency, then far be it from me to point that out.

Indeed, such a move would be pointless. Many of Trump’s supporters are, if anything, emboldened by their hero’s conduct in private and public office. Their determined, energetic support holds him in place as his lawyers await the result of an appeal against his hush money conviction. That of course relates to the falsification of business records to conceal sums paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose affair claims emerged amidst his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump denies Daniels’ claims, but where three other cases did not go to trial, this one survived.

As the T-shirt hanging up in Florida reminds, voting for the felon is a badge of honour for those who rail against what they perceive as a system working against them. And Florida is Trump country, after all. The southern state holds his Mar-a-Lago club, site of that FBI raid, and as he made the estate his primary residence in 2019, the native New Yorker is officially the first Floridian to enter the White House. The state, where conversation dances seamlessly between Spanish and English, has turned ever more red in recent years, and, in another link to the Trump administration, the roads are studded with Elon Musk’s Tesla Cybertrucks.

Those weighty, sharp-edged rides have been deemed too unsafe for UK roads. Up close and personal, it’s easy to see why regulators wouldn’t allow this export to travel freely, despite the fascination the vehicles hold for some fans.

Some products, some messages, don’t sell in overseas markets. Trump, the hotel tycoon who prides himself on dealmaking, has failed to sell himself to Scotland to any great extent. This jaunt and its associated costs to the public purse are unlikely to make a difference. But for anyone who does have a Maga-style top in their cupboard, this won’t be your only chance to don ‘the Don’ – he’ll be back in the UK in September for his official presidential trip.