President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of Senate candidates Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue in Dalton, Ga., Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
Following Donald Trump’s role in inciting a mob to sack the US Capitol yesterday, Scottish lawmakers are calling for him to be banned from that country—a potentially awkward problem for a man who has staked much of his business empire on his golf resorts there.
Trump started building his first Scottish property, a new course developed from scratch, in northeastern Scotland in 2006. He then purchased the legendary Turnberry golf resort in 2014—and almost from the start has had a bad relationship with locals. The courses have also lost money by the bucket—including more than $3.1 million at Turnberry last year—and Trump’s feuding with neighbors and Scottish officials had reached epic levels even before he ran for president. In recent months his problems in Scotland have intensified, with some Scottish lawmakers calling for the government to invoke an anti-money-laundering tool against Trump to force him to explain how he has managed to afford his money-losing courses for so long. (Losing money is something Trump has often done, but rarely for so long before he drops the project.)
On Thursday, Scotland’s justice minister, Humza Yousaf, tweeted a suggestion that the United Kingdom ban Trump from entry.
Once he leaves Office if Trump tries to come to UK the Home Sect should give serious consideration to denying him entry, she has the power if an applicant's presence is not conducive to the public good
Trump's default is to stir up racial tension & yday he incited a violent mob. pic.twitter.com/75fBChvFKQ
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) January 7, 2021
Earlier this week, before the DC mob’s attack on Wednesday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had already made it clear that Trump would not be welcome to come golf at his resorts immediately after he leaves office. Scotland is currently under severe lockdown restrictions due to COVID-19.
“We are not allowing people to come into Scotland without an essential purpose right now, and that would apply to him just as it applies to anyone else—playing golf is not an essential purpose,” Sturgeon said at a press conference.
Priti Patel, UK’s home secretary, who Yousaf made his appeal to, hasn’t commented on whether she would block Trump, but did have harsh words for him on Thursday morning, saying that “his comments directly led to the violence and so far he has failed to condemn that violence – and that is completely wrong.”
