Former US president Donald Trump has declared that Scots are “great, tough people” and “good fighters”, while speaking candidly about his mother and father.
The American politician, who was the 45th president from 2017 to 2021, is one of the five children of Fred Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump.
Her mother was a Scottish immigrant and was only 18 years old when she first arrived in New York, from the Isle of Lewis in search of domestic work.
Six years later, she married Fred and moved with him to a wealthy area of Queens, became a U.S. citizen in 1942, and died in 2000.
Trump’s father Fred was born in New York in 1905 as the son of German immigrants and made his fortune building affordable housing for middle-income families during and after World War II and died in 1999.
The former president, 78, reconnected with his Scottish ancestry by owning two golf clubs in Aberdeenshire.
This week it announced the opening of a second golf course, expanding a pre-existing one installed in 2012, transforming an 18-hole complex into “the largest 36 holes in the world.”
Speaking on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant with Akaash Singh podcast, Trump spoke fondly about his parents
The 18-hole MacLeod course has been adjacent to the original golf course, which opened in 2012 after a long and controversial planning process (pictured: Donald Trump plays a round of golf after the opening of the Trump International course Golf Links 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 the luxury Trump 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 fondly of his parents.
He said: ‘The Scots… are very good people, tough people. They are good fighters. (My mother) was fun, she had a great sense of humor.
‘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 in the can. He had a tremendous heart. He wasn’t a fool, he was firm.
‘My mother was a woman. I loved the Queen… the Queen was great. The Queen honored me before she died.
‘She honored me as president at Buckingham Palace.
‘There’s no one who does it like the English… the pomp and ceremony. My mother would have loved that. She thought the Queen was wonderful.
It comes after Trump announced that players will be welcomed at the MacLeod course, named after the former US president’s mother Mary, at the Trump International complex in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, from summer 2025.
Trump handed control of his two Scots courses to his son Eric (pictured in August). He became president in 2017 but maintained a financial interest.
The 18-hole MacLeod course (right) will be built next to the original Balmedie links, which opened in 2012 after a long and controversial planning process.
Plans for the course were approved in 2019 along with proposals for 550 new homes in the area north of Aberdeen, along with shops, offices and restaurants.
Planners revealed that they had received 2,921 valid representations from the public about the plan, 2,918 of which were objections and only 3 supported the Trump Organization’s request.
But despite significant local opposition (and a lack of local support), the council approved the £150 million plan.
Trump International claimed the new course was “one of the greenest and most sustainable” ever built, as images of the course perched on the beach, meters from the North Sea, show.
The company had been involved in a long-running dispute with area residents over the project, which led 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 area residents over the project (pictured under construction in August 2024), while Aberdeenshire Council was bombarded with complaints from locals opposing the plans.
‘This course is unlike any other link course ever created and exceeds all expectations.
‘There are very few large tracts of developable land in the world as good as this.
“A truly remarkable and world-class team of architects, engineers, environmental scientists and industry specialists have been working tirelessly in the background, etching every square inch of this phenomenal piece of land to create one of the great wonders of the golf world. ‘
Aberdeen is one of two Scottish golf clubs owned by the Trump Organization, a 97-year-old corporation founded by Trump’s paternal grandmother.
Under the direction of Trump’s father, Fred, the Trump Organization focused primarily on building middle-income apartments in Queens and Brooklyn, New York, until the 1970s.
But with his son at the helm, the Trump Organization moved on to Manhattan skyscrapers, Atlantic City casinos and various golf resorts, with varying degrees of success.
Trump’s course in Aberdeen was once the source of considerable local controversy when the supposed billionaire bought the land in 2006.
Environmentalists at the time were concerned that the course would affect wildlife along the Aberdeenshire coast.
Images of the new camp show it perched on the beach, meters from the North Sea.
Players will be welcomed at the MacLeod pitch, named after the former US president’s mother Mary, at the Trump International Resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.
Additionally, Trump fought against a proposed wind farm, claiming the turbines were “ugly” and “environmentally irresponsible.”
In the end, Trump would lose his legal battle against the wind farm, which still surrounds the Aberdeen club.
Trump’s presidency proved to be a difficult time for his Scottish golf courses, which posted financial losses during his tenure in the White House.
In a 2019 Politico report, Trump was accused of rerouting Air National Guard flights through Scotland’s Prestwick Airport in an alleged effort to keep another club, Trump Turnberry, afloat.
Prestwick Airport remains open, allowing Trump clients 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, considered the most expensive in Europe.
Separately, Trump asked Jets owner and US ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, 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 $4.8 million in 2021, while his course in Aberdeen was in the red by almost $1 million .