In Trump’s UK visit, some see ‘infomercial’ for money-losing golf resort

Protesters on a nearby beach shouted ‘No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA’ as he teed off

Donald Trump was shielded from members of the US news media who travelled with him at the weekend to Trump Turnberry, the luxury Scottish resort where he is staying – but not from British journalists, who captured protesters on a nearby beach shouting, “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA” as he teed off on Saturday.

The group chanted across windswept grasslands and a protective buffer of dozens of law enforcement officials, some of them on horseback. The president appeared to wave at the crowd before turning back to his golf game.

Thousands protested his visit Saturday in Edinburgh – where two “Trump Baby” balloons made an appearance. Scottish police confirmed they were searching for a paraglider with a banner reading, “Trump Well Below Par” who had breached a no-fly zone over the resort after the US president arrived Friday night.

Trump has, for the most part, ignored the large rallies against him in the United Kingdom, instead focusing on promoting Turnberry. He described it as “magical” while on the world stage this past week at the Nato summit in Brussels and on a working visit to Britain.

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Before arriving in Scotland – the birthplace of his mother, as well as that of Trump’s preferred pastime – the president managed repeatedly to plug Turnberry, one of two Scottish resorts that bear his name, as he dealt with some of the most pressing diplomatic problems facing his administration to date.

Ethics watchdogs

It is a tactic that has alarmed ethics watchdogs, who say he is using his presidential platform to promote a resort that, according to financial filings, has been a burden on the family business.

At a hastily arranged news conference in Brussels, when asked to discuss his message for Britain on its exit from the European Union, Trump said he had none – a thought he would later undermine in stunning fashion in an interview splashed on the cover of the British tabloid The Sun. Then, Trump wove in a reference to Turnberry calling it "magical" and "one of my favourite places".

“I’m going there for two days while I wait for the Monday meeting” with Vladimir Putin, the president told the news media.

Trump said he would be taking calls and meetings before the planned gathering with Putin in Helsinki. But around the time he hit one of the resort’s two golf courses on Saturday, his official account began posting on Twitter.

In two tweets, he blamed the Obama administration, not Russia, for the hacking and again suggested that a Democratic “deep state” was afoot. He also plugged the Turnberry golf course again: “The weather is beautiful,” he wrote on Twitter, “and this place is incredible!”

His arrival at Turnberry marked the 169th day during his presidency that he has visited a property owned, managed or branded by the Trump Organization. Financial records show the resort has lost money since Trump purchased it in 2014.

“I view this as kind of a forced subsidy of an infomercial for his properties,” Norman L Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said. “He’s attempting to utilise his trip to get beneficial PR.”

– New York Times service