Balmedie, Scotland — President Trump is due to arrive in Scotland Friday for a four-day private trip — his first to the U.K since he was re-elected. The White House says he’ll meet near the end of his visit with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss trade, but he’ll also be opening a brand-new course at the Trump International Golf Links.
Set on Scotland’s rugged northeast coast, it’s a stunningly beautiful location, and it’s easy to see why President Trump was keen to purchase the site more than a decade ago and develop it into a world-class golf club.
But as CBS News learned from speaking with locals, many struggle to separate the American President’s politics from his putting green.
David Milne bought his old Coast Guard look-out on the Aberdeenshire coast over 20 years ago, and he still lives there today. But since 2012, it’s been right in the middle of Trump territory, surrounded by hundreds of acres of shifting sand dunes that have been meticulously sculpted into 36 holes that anyone can play a round on — for about $500.
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Milne isn’t happy about his new neighbor.
“It’s always second-best to what was there originally,” he told CBS News. “When I came in here, this landscape was untouched… now it’s just a golf course .”
Mr. Trump first purchased the land in 2006, and during development he offered to buy some of the neighbors’ places, too, but Milne refused to sell.
In 2011, Mr. Trump said he didn’t like the look of Milne’s property anyway.
“Who cares,” the future president told the Golf Channel, pointing to Milne’s home. “We’re trying to build the greatest course in the world. The house is ugly.”
Asked what the land means to himself and his family, Milne said it was much more than just a patch of picturesque coastline.
“Land is what Scotland is. Not just financially, it’s in the soul of the Scottish people as well. It is where we come from, and where we go back to,” he said.
The visit to Scotland is a homecoming for Mr. Trump, too. His mother, born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912, grew up on a the Scottish Hebridean island of Lewis. He named one of his courses in Aberdeenshire after her.
Mr. Trump has been met with protests on previous visits, and vandalism at his golf courses has taken a political tone in recent months.
Tommy Campbell, a veteran labor union activist in Scotland, told CBS News he was planning to lead another protest during the U.S. leader’s visit this weekend, with a clear message for Mr. Trump:
“You are not welcome here,” he said. “The policies that he represents are completely at odds with what we value here.”
A poll conducted in February found around 70% of Scots have an unfavorable opinion of President Trump. In the village near his golf links, CBS News spoke with the members of a walking club, who hold a grudge.
“The way he treated the neighbors and property owners, I think that influenced us all badly,” said one woman.
But the course employs more than 80 people, and the White House says it has had a positive economic impact in the area.
One local man – a golfer – told CBS News the business Mr. Trump has done, “from a golf perspective, is fantastic.”
“Not saying the protests are not right,” he added. “Some of the stuff, I’d agree with the protesters, but I think there’s a time and a place for it, and it’s not on the golf course.”
Opinions about President Trump are a bit like the weather in Aberdeenshire. But fair or foul — in true Scottish fashion — they’re unlikely to stop a good round of golf.