This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

In preparation for the US election, I watched The Apprentice, the new Hollywood biopic of Donald Trump.

The movie is an unflattering and at times cartoonish origin story, detailing the rise of “Little Donnie” and his transformation from slightly pathetic rent collector for an overbearing dad to the man who will be the 47th President of the United States of America.

A warning for any Herald reader thinking of catching the film, it contains one of the worst Scottish accents in the history of cinema.

The actress playing Mary Anne MacLeod has aimed for the Outer Hebrides and ended up somewhere closer to Outer Space. It’s as if Allo Allo was set in Tong.

I now know what it must be like to be Russian and watch Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October.

But this is probably the way of things to come when Trump moves into the White House and slaps a 10% tariff on everything.

Hollywood won’t be able to afford actual Scottish artists, they’ll have to use poorer quality, cheaper all-Amercian substitutes.

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Those tariffs were possibly on John Swinney’s mind last week when he was asked who he’d back in the US election.

“People in the United States of America should vote for Kamala Harris,” a smiling First Minister told the Holryood press pack.

As you’ll know by now, while some people in the United States did vote for Kamala Harris, around four and a half million more voted for Donald Trump.

Is the FM regretting his support? Well, one senior SNP figure told the Times, Swinney had been “f***ing stupid” to publicly endorse Harris.

Obviously, foreign affairs is reserved to the UK Government, but as the Scottish Government has long argued, they have a role to play when it comes to diplomacy, particularly around deals to bring investment to Scotland.

That’s why they have all of these international offices. It’s why they send ministers out to New York every year for Tartan Week.

It’s why Swinney wrote letters to Trump and his running mate, JD Vance — who also has Scots heritage — describing the US as “Scotland’s most important market and source of inward investment”.

In terms of awkward diplomatic moments, it’s not as tricky a situation as it is with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who six years ago described Mr Trump as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath".

Trump’s victory is going to be bad for Scotland’s economy, certainly worse than a Harris victory would have been, there’s little doubt about that — despite what the future president's Scottish businesses might claim.

For the next four years at least, our biggest trading partner is going to be governed by this grudge-bearing, prickly protectionist. 

I don't doubt that Swinney finds Trump's politics truly abhorrent, but the First Minister should have seen the Republican's victory coming.

When asked who he was going to endorse, he probably should have kept schtum. 

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