Trump salutes Leave vote as a ‘great thing’ and hopes the US is watching
US PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Donald Trump said it was a ‘great thing’ that the people of the UK had ‘taken back their country’ from the EU. He also said he saw in the vote great parallels with what was happening in the US.
The businessman and Republican presidential candidate opened his newly refurbished Turnberry golf course in Scotland on the day the UK voted to leave the EU.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the ruling Scottish National Party in the devolved Scottish Parliament, immediately launched a new drive for independence after Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the EU but Mr Trump said he didn’t imagine that the Scottish public would want to go through that again.
Mr Trump said the last independence referendum in 2014 was ‘a nasty period’ – in contrast to the EU referendum, which he fully supported. Handlers for Mr Trump also revealed he had been unable to schedule a flying visit to his new golf course in Doonbeg, Co Clare, before heading home.
‘Definitely not,’ a spokeswoman said.
Mr Trump’s visit had been expected to clash with the latest leg of US vice-president Joe Biden’s six-day trip to Ireland, an uncomfortable coincidence for the governments in Dublin and Washington.
Back in Scotland, the ribboncutting ceremony was interrupted by comedian Simon Brodkin, also
‘They want to take their borders back’
known as Lee Nelson, attempting to hand out golf balls with a swastika printed on them.
Mr Trump demanded security ‘get him out’ before addressing reporters from around the world who have been following him closely since he was elected to stand against Democrat Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Republican candidate for US president.
He said: ‘People want to take their country back and they want to have independence, in a sense. ‘You see it all over Europe. ‘In my opinion, you’re going to have more than just what happened last night.
‘You’re going to have, I think, many other cases where they want to take their borders back, their monetary (policy) back, take a lot of things back.
‘They want to be able to have a country again.’
Mr Trump says that his strong showing in the polls for the US presidential race was evidence of a similar discontent, particularly over immigration.
‘I really do see a parallel between what’s happening in the US and what is happening here.’
‘People want to see borders. They don’t necessarily want people pouring into their country that they don’t know who they are, or where they have come from – they have no idea,’ he said.
In a statement, he said: ‘I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again.’
Mr Trump, whose mother was born in Scotland, said the issue of Scottish independence was ‘up to the people of Scotland’ but ‘we’ve been through this’.
‘I’ll leave it up to the people,’ he said. ‘I love the people of Scotland. That is why I built, in Aberdeen, one of the great golf courses in the world. I’ve gotten to know the people of Scotland so well through my mother and everything else.
‘The people of Scotland are amazing people and that question really has to be addressed to the people.
‘It was a very, very close vote and I don’t know that people want to go through that again.
‘I was here when people were going through that vote.
‘I didn’t take sides but I will tell you it was a nasty period, and I can’t imagine they would go through that again – but the people of Scotland may speak differently.’
The presidential hopeful also suggested that US President Barack Obama may have been responsible for the UK’s decision to leave.
He said the outgoing Democrat President’s endorsement for the UK to Remain in the EU ‘perhaps caused it to fail’ and if he had not intervened the result ‘might have been different’.
Mr Trump said Prime Minister David Cameron ‘probably did the right thing’ in resigning after he backed a vote to Remain in the EU with the endorsement of Mr Obama. He added that Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, who led the charge for the UK to leave the EU, would be a good replacement as ‘he got it right so that gives him an advantage’.
He also suggested the collapse in the pound could be ‘a positive’ for the UK economy – and attract more visitors to his new Scottish golf course.
‘If the pound goes down, we’re going to do more business. If the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly.
‘The pound has gone down and we will see what the impact of that is.
‘But I think places like Scotland and different places in Britain, I think you’re going to see a lot of activity. The pound got high and people weren’t able to do what they wanted to do, for travelling and other things.
‘I think it could very well turn out to be a positive. Nobody really knows. You’ll know in about five years, you’ll be able to analyse it.
‘Maybe it will take even longer than that, but what is known is that they’ve taken back their independence, and that’s a very important thing.’
‘Obama perhaps caused it to fail’