Former US president Donald Trump has declared the Scottish are ‘great, tough people’ and ‘good fighters’ while opening up about his mother and father.
The American politician – who served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021 – is one of five children born to Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump.
His mother was a Scottish immigrant and she was just 18 when she first arrived in New York, travelling from the island of Lewis in search of domestic work.
Six years later, she married Fred and moved with him to a wealthy area of Queens, and became a US citizen in 1942 and passed away in 2000.
Trump’s father Fred was born in New York in 1905 as the son of German immigrants, and made his fortune by building affordable housing for middle-income families during and after World War Two and he died in 1999.
The former president, 78, reconnected with his Scottish ancestry by owning two golf clubs in Aberdeenshire.
This week, he announced he is opening a second golf course, expanding a pre-existing one installed in 2012, by transforming a 18-hole resort into ‘the greatest 36 holes on earth’.
Speaking on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh podcast, Trump spoke about his parents with fondness
The 18-hole MacLeod Course has been beside the original links, which opened in 2012 following a long, controversial planning process (pictured: Donald Trump plays a round of golf after the opening of The Trump International Golf Links Course on July 10, 2012)
Donald Trump seen here with his father Fred and mother Mary Anne in New York in 1992
Former President Trump with his mother in 1977; Mary Anne Trump died in 2000
A view of Trump’s luxury golf course and resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire
Donald Trump announced that his new links golf course will open in Aberdeen in the summer of 2025. Pictured is the site for the new championship links golf course
Speaking on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh podcast, Trump spoke about his parents with fondness.
He said: ‘The Scottish people…they’re very great people, they’re tough people. They’re good fighters. [My mother ] was funny, she had a great sense of humour.
‘My father loved my mother. My father was German. He was serious…he was a tough guy but he had a good heart.
‘We would walk down the street and if someone had a can my father would always put 100 dollars in the can. He had a tremendous heart. He was no nonsense, he was firm.
‘My mother was a woman. She loved the Queen…the Queen was great. The Queen honoured me before she died.
‘She honoured me as the president in Buckingham Palace.
‘There’s nobody that does it like the English…the pomp and ceremony. My mother would have loved that. She thought the Queen was so wonderful.’
It comes after Trump announced that players will be welcomed to the MacLeod Course – named after the former US president’s mother Mary – at the Trump International resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire from the summer of 2025.
Mr Trump handed control of both of his Scottish courses to his son Eric (pictured in August) he became President in 2017 but retained a financial interest
The 18-hole MacLeod Course (shown right) is to be built beside the original links at Balmedie, which opened in 2012 following a long, controversial planning process
The plans for the course were approved in 2019 alongside proposals for 550 new homes in the area north of Aberdeen – along with shops, offices and restaurants.
Planners revealed it had received 2,921 valid representations from the public about the plan, 2,918 of which were objections and just 3 supported the Trump Organisation application.
But despite the significant local opposition – and a lack of local support – the council approved the £150million plan.
Trump International claimed the new course was ‘one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable’ ever built, as images show the course perched on the beach, yards from the North Sea.
The company had been involved in a long-running dispute with residents in the area over the project, leading to Aberdeenshire Council being bombarded with complaints when the plans were first announced.
Trump International Scotland vice president Sarah Malone said in a statement: ‘Since breaking ground with President Trump and [his son] Eric Trump last spring, we have made extraordinary progress.
Trump International claimed the new course was ‘one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable’ ever built
Trump International Golf Links had been involved in a long-running dispute with residents in the area over the project (pictured under construction in August 2024), as Aberdeenshire Council was bombarded with complaints from locals who objected to the plans
‘This course is unlike any other links course ever built and is exceeding every expectation.
‘There are very few great stretches of developable links land in the world as good as this.
‘A truly remarkable, world-class team of architects, engineers, environmental scientists and industry specialists have been working tirelessly in the background – etching out every square inch of this phenomenal piece of land to create one of the great wonders in the world of golf.’
Aberdeen is one of two Scottish golf clubs owned by the Trump Organisation, a 97-year-old corporation started by Trump’s paternal grandmother.
Under the guidance of Trump’s father Fred, the Trump Organisation primarily focused on building middle-income apartments in Queens and Brooklyn, New York until the 1970s.
But with his son at the helm, the Trump Organisation moved on to Manhattan skyscrapers, Atlantic City casinos and a number of golf resorts, with varying degrees of success.
Trump’s course in Aberdeen was once the source of considerable local controversy when the reported billionaire bought the land in 2006.
Environmentalists at the time were concerned the course would impact wildlife along the Aberdeenshire coast.
Images of the new course show it perched on the beach, yards from the North Sea
Players will be welcomed to the MacLeod Course – named after the former US president’s mother Mary – at the Trump International resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire
Furthermore, Trump battled against a proposed wind farm, claiming the turbines were ‘ugly’ and ‘environmentally irresponsible.’
Ultimately Trump would lose his legal battle against the wind farm, which still surrounds the Aberdeen club.
Trump’s presidency proved to be a complicated time for his Scottish golf courses, both of which reported financial losses over his White House tenure.
In one 2019 report from Politico, Trump was accused of redirecting Air National Guard flights through Scotland’s Prestwick Airport in an alleged effort keep another club, Trump Turnberry, afloat.
Prestwick Airport remains open, allowing Trump customers to visit Turnberry, but the Scottish government is reportedly looking to sell the facility to a private buyer.
Turnberry reportedly charges £1,000 for a round, which ranks as the most expensive in Europe.
Separately, Jets owner and US ambassador to the United Kingdom Woody Johnson was reportedly asked by Trump to help him bring the British Open to one of his courses, according to a New York Times report. Johnson was ultimately unsuccessful.
Trump’s struggles continued in Scotland after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Turnberry, in South Ayrshire, lost a reported $4.8 million in 2021, while his course in Aberdeen was nearly $1 million in the red.
