The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrat party has accused other Scottish party leaders of ‘dressing up’ their reaction to Donald Trump becoming president with ‘diplomatic niceties’.  

Alex Cole-Hamilton's comments come after he flew to America in order to campaign for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Mr Cole-Hamilton knocked on the doors of residents in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a key Swing- State which Mr Trump won for the Republicans. 

After changing his name to ‘Alex Cole-Hamala’ on X on US election night, Mr Cole-Hamilton said he was ‘devastated’ when he found out Mr Trump is now the 47th president and was frustrated at other party leaders’ reactions in Scotland.  

In an interview with The Herald, Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “I was dismayed that the reaction of most of my colleagues in terms of the party leaders was to  dress up their response to Trump’s election in diplomatic niceties.” 

Asked by The Herald which particular party leaders he was dismayed at, Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “Well, Anas Sarwar, John Swinney, Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer. All of these people I think felt the need to mend fences and tow the line." 

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“I’m sorry I don’t feel diplomatic right now and I think our special relationship with the United States is old enough and strong enough to withstand the constructive criticism of political leaders like myself. I don’t think we need to pretend to feel something that we don’t.” 

“I think there’s been a rush to diplomatic niceties that this situation does not merit.” 

Yesterday, the First Minister congratulated Mr Trump on his victory, saying Scotland shared "economic, social and cultural" links with the US and he would be “happy” to meet with Mr Trump if he visited Scotland. This comes after the SNP leader had backed MS Harris and Trump International named this an "insult”. 

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also sided with Harris ahead of the election and when President Trump won he released a statement saying he was concerned  "about the politics that he legitimises".

However, the Scottish Labour leader said he had to "respect democracy", and that the UK had to keep a “strong relationship with the US because it’s in our national and global interest”.

In Holyrood today, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie criticised the First Minister for congratulating the new Republican president.  

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Mr Harvie branded Trump a “misogynist, a climate denier, a fraudster, a conspiracy monger, a racist, a far-right politicians who tried to overturn an election result”.

Mr Harvie asked the First Minister: “What social and cultural ties does the first minister really think will benefit from a relationship with such a man?”

Mr Swinney said it was his duty as the leader of the country to congratulate Trump, however, he acknowledged there were “very big, real differences” between the two of them.

Mr Cole-Hamilton says he has not spoken to the Scottish party leaders about Donald Trump but wants to see them address the ‘calamity’ a Trump presidency would pose here. 

The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader told The Herald Mr Trump’s administration will have “a very immediate impact on our economy if he makes good on his pledge of tariff on things like whisky and salmon and other things we export to America.”

Trump has claimed he will introduce either a 10% or 20% universal levy on all foreign-made goods and a 100% tariff on all imported cars. Economists have said this may significantly disrupt European growth and strain key trade-dependent sectors. 

Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “It will have a massive effect on our global efforts to tackle climate change because he is clearly somebody who does not think that exists.” 

Mr Cole-Hamilton also raised concerns around the risk Trump’s presidency poses to abortion care in America as well as the cultural impact it will have on women across the globe. 

“I’ve already seen on social media an emboldening of a dark misogyny as a result of Trump’s election campaign,” Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “That’s probably always been there but has been given license to re-emerge and to operate with impunity. 

“Andrew Tate and the cultural reality that gave rise to Andrew Tate’s success feeds into the narrative of a Trump presidency. There’s a community of online men in particular who have been emboldened by Trump who believe they have a patriarchal right to success and subjugate women.” 

Mr Cole-Hamilton also said he was worried about Ukraine when it came to a Trump presidency as he may “choke off” the military supply of aid to the country. 

“Everyone should be terrified of a Trump presidency,” Mr Cole-Hamilton added.