TonyMcGuire.com

Published: Friday 18th June 2025

For the first time (ever, I think) I’ve decided to break from the convention of hosting portfolio work and bring you in on some thoughts over the differing public reactions to the upcoming presidential visit to Scotland at the end of July.

Where do you stand on President Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland next week? As far as I can tell there are two significant points of view spinning moral compasses across the country like a magnetic storm. 

Donald Trump will arrive for a five-day Scottish fling to mark the opening of his new Aberdeenshire course along with a memorial garden for his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.

Fun fact: about 75% of US Presidents have had Scottish roots or Ulster-Scot ancestry – of those 33, never has a President been more vocal about their deep connection to our little corner of the world as 45 & 47, President Donald J Trump.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar recently wrote in The Times: “President Trump’s affinity for Scotland is real, regardless of what people think of his politics,” adding, “the potential benefits of having the president of the United States as an advocate for others to invest in Scotland should be obvious.”

Opposing the visit, the ‘Stop Trump Coalition’ has urged First Minister John Swinney to boycott the presidential visit to the Granite City, organising a ‘festival of resistance’ to take place on Saturday in Aberdeen.

However, Swinney has acknowledged it was “in Scotland’s interest” he meets with the President next week so he “can use every opportunity to protect and to promote the interests of the people of Scotland.”

The most infamous Scottish Trump protest took place 12 years ago when comedian Janey Godley first “welcomed Trump to Scotland” in 2013 holding a sign that read, “TRUMP IS A C***”, photographed high-five-ing police officers on the beach.

She turned up with a similar sign at Turnberry in 2016 but police moved in to quickly to shut her down, their significantly improved grasp of optics on full display for the Republican nominee.

Godley’s death in November 2024 will undoubtably inspire many a copycat protestor next week in Aberdeen – the difference being this time Donald Trump is a sitting US President.

Keir Starmer will also fly to Scotland to meet President Trump, but the July visit is entirely separate to the “first of its kind” second UK state visit confirmed for September and as such the King will not meet with the President next week.

This swell of conflicting perspectives is why I want to know: where do you stand on this rare presidential visit to Scotland?

Does his politics, past comments and felonies outweigh the prestige of playing host to a sitting president, or should the arrival of any US leader in Scotland – however controversial a figure they may be – demand deeper consideration over how Scotland reacts in the global spotlight while the world watches on?

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I take the view that Swinney and Sarwar have the right idea: when the President of the United States of America visits our country, you should be allowed a moment to reflect about the opportunities that presents for all of us and better yet, be thankful that there’s going to be people in the room with him who can drive ambition forward.

Equally, we should all be glad that we live in a civil democracy that promotes and accommodates peaceful protests and doubly so during times an expansive abyss exists between two competing points of view.

There is no right and wrong to welcoming or opposing President Trump’s Scottish fling in Aberdeen, but there can certainly still be winners and losers.