US President Donald Trump was expected to play golf on the first full day of his visit to Scotland Saturday, as protesters prepared to take to the streets across the country.
Trump’s arrival at his Turnberry resort has turned this picturesque and normally quiet area of southwest Scotland into a virtual fortress, with roads closed and police checkpoints in place.
Officers on quad bikes, police sniffer dogs and horses patrolled the storied links — which has hosted four men’s British Opens — and its adjacent sandy beaches and grass dunes that hug the course.
The 79-year-old leader touched down at nearby Prestwick Airport on Friday evening, as hundreds of curious onlookers came out to see Air Force One and try to catch a glimpse of its famous passenger.
The 45th and 47th president has professed a love of Scotland, where his mother was born, but has controversial politics and business investments in the country have made for an uneasy relationship.
Unsurprisingly, his five-day visit has divided the local community.
“A lot of people don’t trust Trump and I’m one of them. I think the man is a megalomaniac,” retiree Graham Hodgson told AFP.
“He’s so full of himself. I think he’s doing a lot of damage worldwide with his tariffs. And I think it’s all for the sake of America, but at the moment I think America is playing the price as well for his policies.”
But at Prestwick Airport a boy held a sign that read “Welcome Trump” while a man waved a flag emblazoned with Trump’s most famous slogan — “Make America Great Again”.
“I think the best thing about Trump is he’s not actually a politician yet he’s the most powerful man in the world and I think he’s looking at the best interests of his own country,” said 46-year-old Lee McLean, who had travelled from nearby Kilmarnock.
“Most politicians should really be looking at the best interests of their own country first before looking overseas, which unfortunately most leaders of the world actually do,” he told AFP.
Trump’s visit has seen Police Scotland embark on a massive security operation in which it has asked for support from other forces around the UK to bolster officer numbers.
The Stop Trump Coalition has announced demonstrations near the US consulate in the Scottish capital Edinburgh and another in Aberdeen, where Trump owns another golf resort, for Saturday.
Police will also be monitoring any other protests that might spring up near Turnberry.
With no public meetings in the diary for Saturday, Trump was expected to jump in his golf cart and play what he called Friday “the best course anywhere in the world”.
He is due to discuss trade with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday and is also due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer while in Scotland.
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