DONALD Trump has threatened to move to Scotland if he fails in his bid for the US presidency.
The tycoon said he might retire to his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire to play golf – despite thousands of people backing a petition to ban him from the UK.
The 69-year-old billionaire made the comments last Sunday following a rally in Maryland.
He told the New York Post: “I don’t think I’m going to lose, but if I do, I don’t think you’re ever going to see me again, folks.
“I think I’ll go to Turnberry and play golf or something.”
Among those likely to give Trump a hostile reception is photographer Alicia Bruce, who grew up in Aberdeenshire and believes locals were treated badly as a result of the development of the Trump International Golf Links course on the Menie Estate.
She said: “The reaction might be mixed in Scotland as I know he has a few fans but the residents of Menie would certainly not welcome him.
“Especially with all the bullying and harassment that has went on at the Menie estate.
“My first hand experience wouldn’t be good and those local residents aren’t fans.
“I’ve seen them burn a Donald Trump on a bonfire and the Forbes family have an ongoing issue that’s not dying down.”
David Milne, 51, from Balmedie, Aberdeenshire said: “We’ve put up with him and his flunkies for about ten years now so as far as I’m concerned he’s not welcome.
Another local Rohan Beyts, 61, said: “I hope he has lots more time to play golf, but would prefer it not to be in Scotland.
“I would prefer he wasn’t the president and didn’t come over here either.
“And after seeing what he’s done to Menie, I wouldn’t like to see what he would do to the rest of the world.”
“I know I can produce results, I know I can make a difference.
“I know it won’t be easy, but Scotland wasn’t easy either.
“There’s a stubborn streak in me that I inherited, and I am grateful for that.
“That’s what produces winners. As Scots, I think you will have to agree with me.”
He has been known to have a somewhat troubled relationship with his ancestral homeland.
At the end of last year he was stripped of his honorary degree from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen after saying there should be a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US.
And former First Minister Alex Salmond had also had an ongoing spat with Trump.
The pair have been engaged in a war of words for some months now – with Salmond recently branding Trump “offensive”, “absurd” and “dangerous”.
In the past Trump has called Salmond an “embarrassment to Scotland”.
