If the Scottish Government expected fire and fury from any of the Trumps, the second son of the soon-to-be-leader of the Free World was perhaps the least likely candidate.

While the incoming president and Donald Jr are known for braggadocio and acid tongues, Eric is, according to those who have had dealings with him, unfailingly polite and courteous.

This week, however, he was in no mood to mince words when asked about First Minister John Swinney's endorsement of Kamala Harris in the US election.

Trump Jr said: "My father adores Scotland, and you have a First Minister coming out and just being fairly nasty in the days leading up.

“I mean, who did that benefit? Did that benefit Scotland?

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“You know, you just asked about tariffs? Does that benefit that? If he ever needs to call my father and ask about tariffs or negotiate a base, does that benefit Scotland?”

The 40-year-old also suggested Scotland was a bad place to do business, claiming the way the Trump Organisation has been treated would "drive an ordinary company out 100 times over", and it's only the family's love for the country that has kept them doing business in Caledonia.

It was just the latest twist in a long-running story which began over 100 years ago in the Outer Hebrides.

Mary Anne MacLeod was born in the village of Tong in 1912 to Malcolm, a crofter and fisherman, and Mary Ann.

Life was hard, with the historian James Hunter recounting in his book The Making of the Crofting Community the words of a visiting land manager from the mainland: "It is worse than anything I ever saw in Donegal where I always considered human wretchedness to have reached its very acme."

Mary grew up speaking almost exclusively Gaelic, learning English as a second language during her schooling, but following the Highland Clearances and World War I there wasn't much to offer a young person in Tong other than what one Trump biographer described as "human wretchedness".

Between 1919 and 1938 close to half a million Scots emigrated, with 76% setting sail for either Canada or the United States in search of a better life; the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Whether Mary considered herself "the wretched refuse of your teeming shore" as the above inscription on the Statue of Liberty would have it is immaterial, she arrived in New York City under immigrant visa 2669191 on the day before her 18th birthday, May 11, 1930.

Group portrait of, from left, American banker Elizabeth Trump Grau, judge Maryanne Trump Barry (standing), and their mother, Mary TrumpGroup portrait of, from left, American banker Elizabeth Trump Grau, judge Maryanne Trump Barry (standing), and their mother, Mary Trump (Image: Getty Images) Under an immigration policy which would no doubt displease her future son, she was allowed to visit Scotland and return to the U.S on many occasions despite the fact she would not become a naturalised citizen until 1942. One one visit she told her family in her mother tongue she had met her future husband: Fred Trump.

The couple's fourth child, Donald Trump - who may have been named for his maternal grandfather, lost at sea in 1934 - idolised his father but spoke relatively rarely of his mother.

Save for one flying visit as a toddler he did not set foot on Lewis until 2008 when he visited the croft in which his mother grew up and stepped inside for a mere 97 seconds.

While the future President declared "I do feel Scottish", cynics suggested his 90 minute Hebridean pitstop was little more than a publicity stunt on the way to a public hearing about his controversial plans to build a golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.

Having bought the land in 2006, Trump declared his intention to build a £1bn resort on what had been declared an area of special scientific interest and was met with furious protest by both locals and environmental groups.

One local farmer, Michael Forbes, refused to sell his land to the American billionaire telling he could shove an offer of £450,000 "up his arse".

Initially rejected by Aberdeenshire Council, Trump International Golf Links was controversially approved by the Scottish Government in 2008.

The third hole at Trump International in AberdeenshireThe third hole at Trump International in Aberdeenshire (Image: Supplied) First Minister Alex Salmond was criticised for his "cavalier" attitude to calling in the planning decision, with Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen saying Holyrood's involvement "smelled of sleaze", a charge the Trump Organisation furiously denied.

Speaking to the BBC, Trump insisted: "I hardly know Alex Salmond, but what I know is that he's an amazing man.

"Alex Salmond and I have virtually never even talked about this job but I know for a fact that he - and anyone else who's representing Scotland, unless they're the enemy - wants billions of pounds to come into Aberdeenshire and Scotland."

The plans were ultimately approved on November 2, 2008 by the finance secretary - one John Swinney.

Given events over the subsequent 16 years, we can pinpoint that as the high point in the President-elect's relationship with the Scottish Government.

Trump reacted with fury after plans were approved to build a wind farm off the coast of Aberdeenshire, asking Salmond in a letter: "Do you want to be known for centuries to come as 'Mad Alex - the man who destroyed Scotland'?"

So incensed was The Donald he appeared before the Scottish Parliament to give evidence, drawing laughs from the public gallery when asked for his evidence of the negative impact of turbines and responding: "I am the evidence."

"He came, he saw, he blustered," said CBS News.

The businessman threatened to withdraw all investment from the country when the plans were ultimately approved, but added a second course when he bought Turnberry in South Ayrshire in 2014.

Donald Trump at his Turnberry golf course in AyrshireDonald Trump at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire (Image: Martin Shields) On a visit to the course in the midst of his first run for the White House in 2016, the presumptive Republican nominee was greeted by protestors and a cold shoulder from Salmond's successor Nicola Sturgeon, who would later tell ITV: "I expect the people of the United States will have the good sense not to elect him."

In typical self-mythologising style, Trump would later claim to have predicted the result of the Brexit vote on his visit to Ayrshire as he told the Sun: "I predicted Brexit. I was cutting a ribbon for the opening of Turnberry - you know they did a whole renovation, it is beautiful - the day before the Brexit vote.

“I said, ‘Brexit will happen’. The vote is going to be positive because people don’t want to be faced with the horrible immigration problems that they are being faced with in other countries. I said Brexit will happen, and I was right.”

Trump arrived at Turnberry the day after the vote.

The Republican candidate would, of course, win his own vote in a shock result later in 2016, forcing Sturgeon into something of a climbdown with what the White House described as "a short congratulatory call" and a letter, though the First Minister made clear she would "not maintain a diplomatic silence" in the face of "abhorrent comments".

When Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in 2020, she offered a "cheerio" and "don't haste ye back", with the businessman commenting on the former First Minister's own travails on a trip to Turnberry last year as he said "she has not been a great person for Scotland".

Set to be sworn in as President for a second time in January, Trump is expected to visit Scotland early next year.

In 2020 he won approval from Aberdeenshire Council for a second course, the MacLeod Course, which is due to open in the summer of 2025.

Eric Trump, who many have suggested seems more interested in the golfing side of the family business than the political one declared: "We are on track to create the greatest 36 holes on earth through two truly magnificent golf courses sitting side by side among these majestic dunes on the stunning Aberdeenshire coastline. It is a truly mesmerising and very special place.

“No other location can offer what is here in Scotland. We have the greatest sand dunes anywhere in the world, the vast North Sea and the most incredible land."

Trump Jr is executive vice-president of the family empire, and "directly responsible for overseeing the construction, management and operations of each Trump Golf property".

Under his management, the golfing section of his father's empire has grown from three courses to 16, with the new links named for his grandmother to follow.

If reports of his more conciliatory demeanour are to be believed, perhaps he's the man to get the Trump family and the Scottish Government out of the rough.