INSIDE THE STORY
Trump Turnberry’s 30 per cent tax rise – brought about by a Scottish Government decision – is unlikely to improve the lousy relationship between the SNP administration and the President that goes back over seven years.
Back then Trump was a New York businessman with no serious political ambitions. He was focused on plans to open a golf course in Aberdeenshire, but became obsessed by what he regarded as a blot on the horizon that threatened the project.
The future President was irritated by the prospect of offshore wind turbines in Aberdeen Bay which he felt would ruin the view of golfers who would play on the course. He wanted then First Minister Alex Salmond to intervene, but he refused. The pair have feuded ever since.
When the Trump Organisation’s legal challenge against the wind farm was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2015 – the latest in a series of court bids – Salmond described the tycoon as a “three-time loser”. Trump’s firm hit back: "Does anyone care what this man thinks? He's a has-been and totally irrelevant."
Salmond then called for candidate Trump, who was seeking the Republican nomination for President, to be banned from entering the UK on account of anti-Muslim remarks.
He stepped up his attacks weeks before the tight election between Trump and Hillary Clinton: “Emotionally he is a Peter Pan – the boy who never grew up.”
Relations between Nicola Sturgeon and the populist politician have also been poor. She openly backed Clinton during the contest and said she was “horrified” by his comments about “grabbing” women: "That is really misogyny at its worst and I think we've all got to stand up against that."
President Trump has refrained from tweeting his disdain for Salmond and his successor, but there is little doubt he carries a grudge.
On his recent trip to the UK, he visited Turnberry but is said to have made no effort to meet the First Minister, or call her.
A former Downing Street staffer also claimed at the time that the President’s dislike of the SNP duo had been apparent in a phone call between him and Theresa May: “He totally hates Nicola Sturgeon. He spends lots of his time bitching about Sturgeon. He loathes Salmond too. But why spend so much time talking about Sturgeon in a phone call with Theresa May?”
Trump says he loves Scotland, but his fondness for his late mother’s country of birth should not be mistaken for affection for the Scottish Government.
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