Donald Trump breezes into Scotland as Brexit results roll in

Turnberry (United Kingdom) — Donald Trump arrives in Scotland on Friday (June 24) for his first international trip since becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, touching down just as Britain hears whether it will leave the EU.

Mr Trump may be in for a chilly reception as he flies in for the ceremonial re-opening of his refurbished Trump Turnberry golf course on the picturesque southwest coast, where coach-loads of protesters plan to greet him.

The New York celebrity tycoon has caused alarm in Europe with his abrasive style and pledges to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and build a wall on the border with Mexico.

His proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States drew the ire of Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the idea “stupid, divisive and wrong”.

Two groups, Scotland Against Trump and Stand Up To Racism Scotland are bussing protesters to the golf resort to picket the property mogul, who is likely to battle the Democrat Hillary Clinton for the US presidency in November’s vote.

“Scotland is a progressive, tolerant and multicultural country and we oppose the bigotry that Donald Trump represents,” Keir McKechnie of Stand Up To Racism Scotland told AFP.

“We want to tell the world that he’s not welcome here.”

Mr Jonathon Shafi of Scotland Against Trump said he wanted the gathering to demonstrate unity with protesters in the United States that have disrupted Trump rallies.

“We want to send a message of solidarity to movements like Black Lives Matter that we are united in opposition,” Mr Shafi told AFP.

‘GO IT ALONE’

Mr Trump is set to descend into Turnberry by helicopter as results trickle in that should indicate whether Britain has voted to leave the 28-member EU, in a referendum that will shape the continent’s political future.

The campaign has been divisive in Britain, with polls indicating the result could come down to the wire.

Mr Trump told Fox News television ahead of his visit that, though he had not considered the matter deeply, he felt Britain should “go it alone” and vote to leave.

He is set to hold a question-and-answer session along with members of his family before cutting a ceremonial ribbon to open the resort.

On Saturday, he is expected to travel to the Trump International Golf Links, his course in the eastern coastal village of Balmedie, a resort that has been controversial with locals.

Some irate neighbours living next to the course have raised Mexican flags in symbolic opposition to Mr Trump.

The trip echoes a visit to Germany by Mr Barack Obama in 2008, when the US president was the presumptive Democratic nominee, but the approaches of the two towards Europe are starkly different.

Mr Obama addressed a crowd of tens of thousands about his hopes of closer links to a unified Europe.

Mr Trump has criticised the continent’s leaders as “weak”, and accused them of inadequate measures to combat terrorism after attacks in Brussels this year. AFP