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 A day after battling with rival candidates in a Republican national
security debate, the business tycoon entered a war of words with
lawmakers in his mother's homeland after losing his fight to block
the building of 11 offshore turbines near his multi-million dollar
resort.
In a statement, the Trump Organization denounced the Scottish
government as "foolish, small minded and parochial", while the
Scottish National Party's (SNP) foreign affairs spokesman Alex
Salmond replied that Trump was "three times a loser".
The spat comes after a week when Trump's call to deny Muslims entry
to the United States was major news across the Atlantic, and led to
his being stripped of two Scottish honorary positions and prompted a
record petition calling for him to be banned from Britain.
Prime Minister David Cameron called the remarks "stupid". "If he
came to visit our country, I think he'd unite us all against him,"
the British leader told parliament.
The row centers on plans to build a wind farm off Blackdog in
Aberdeenshire on Scotland's northeastern coast, which Trump believes
will spoil the view from his golf complex just 3.5 km (2 miles)
away.
Scotland's SNP-run government overturned environmental and other
local objections to approve the golf course in 2010, the first phase
of a 750 million pound ($1.13 billion) project.
But three years later it approved the turbines, saying the $350
million scheme would boost the local economy and power thousands of
homes.
Since then, the once-harmonious relations between Trump, who speaks
proudly of being half-Scottish and whose Gaelic-speaking mother
hailed from Stornoway on the northern Isle of Lewis, and Scotland's
political elite have turned sour.
"FOOLISH, SMALL-MINDED"
The tycoon could barely disguise his contempt after Britain's
Supreme Court unanimously rejected his lawyers' argument that the
decision to approve the wind farm scheme had been flawed.
"History will judge those involved unfavorably and the outcome
demonstrates the foolish, small minded and parochial mentality which
dominates the current Scottish Government’s dangerous experiment
with wind energy," the Trump Organization said in a statement.
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The statement said the turbine project was "nothing more than
delusional posturing" that would destroy "the bucolic Aberdeen Bay"
and cause great damage to local tourism and Scotland's economic
future.
The comments drew a sharp response from Salmond, Scotland's former
First Minister, in office when the decision was made and a
campaigner for Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom for
more than 30 years.
"His behavior and comments are unlikely to attract the votes of many
Mexican Americans or Muslim Americans," Salmond said. "Given his
treatment of Scotland, Scots Americans are likely to join the ever
growing list of people alienated by Trump."
Describing Trump as "three times a loser", Salmond said the business
tycoon had failed to deliver on the jobs and billions of dollars of
investment his golf complex had promised.
He also said outspoken comments on Muslims and Mexican immigrants
would mean Turnberry, another Scottish golf course which Trump has
bought and is refurbishing at a cost of 200 million pounds, would
never be considered to host the British Open tournament.
As the argument grew increasingly personal, Trump's group retorted
that Salmond was a "has-been and totally irrelevant".
Although all legal avenues in Britain are exhausted, Trump hinted
that the row was not over and recourse to European Courts was a
possibility.
"We will evaluate the Court’s decision and continue to fight this
proposal on every possible front," the Trump Organization statement
said.
(Additional reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge
and Richard Balmforth)
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