Donald Trump arrived in Scotland at the moment the entire world was tuned in to the news that the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, but his first comments focused – at great length – about his golf course.
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In Scotland to reopen a golf resort, the wealthy NY businessman, told reporters: “I see a big parallel”.
He said United Kingdom divisions “will heal” as “it is a great place” adding: “I said this was going to happen and I think it is a great thing”.
Trump, whose visit to Scotland is his first global trip since sealing sufficient delegate support to be the GOP standardbearer this fall, also predicted that other nations will follow the United Kingdom’s lead.
He is drawing parallels between the so-called Brexit vote and the USA presidential campaign, saying people want to take their borders back. “They took their country back”. “The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries-and our two peoples-are united together, as they will be under a Trump Administration”, he wrote.
“When the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly”, Trump said.
Sally Kohn, a CNN political commentator who has been critical of Trump, retweeted a comedy writer who tweeted, “I’m not anxious, when has a combination of nationalism and economic depression ever resulted in something bad happening in Europe?”
“If he had said no to it, I think the vote might have been different”.
The item was posted as Trump was getting set to visit his Turnberry golf resort after arriving Friday in Scotland.
Trump suggested the European Union might fracture entirely, and said he had German friends who were “thinking about moving” after the Brexit vote.
“The new balls are available from the clubhouse as part of a new Trump Turnberry range”, he said. Trump said that would not be the case in a Trump presidency.
Mr Trump was visiting the golf resort in his family’s ancestral homeland to showcase his far-flung business empire.
His arrival was greeted with reports of numerous protests, with hundreds expected to gather to show their disgust at the presumed Republican candidate who they accuse of racism and bigotry.
“I’ve gotten to know the people of Scotland so well through my mother and everything else”.
“I’ll leave it up to the people”, he said.
Vice President Joe Biden, speaking in Ireland where he is making an official visit, expressed the administration’s regret about the vote but assured Britons that the bond between their two countries would remain strong.
As it happened, Scotland voted by a margin of 62 per cent to 38 per cent to remain in the European Union, a result sharply at odds with Britain as a whole, which voted 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave.
Just as Trump has stoked a populist sentiment with his calls for an “America first” approach, Britain’s voters declared their thirst for autonomy from a Eurocentric bureaucracy that they felt didn’t prioritize their interests.
Republicans had cautioned that Trump, who has yet to hold public office and rates unfavorably with 70 percent of Americans in an opinion poll, risked making a foreign policy misstep at a time when Republican leaders are urging a more serious demeanor.
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At the new conference, he described British Prime Minister David Cameron as “a good man” who was wrong on the Brexit issue.
