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'Mad Alex': Donald Trump letters abuse ex-Scottish first minister 'Mad Alex': Donald Trump letters abuse Scottish ex-first minister
(about 1 hour later)
Donald Trump harangued the former first minister of Scotland as “Mad Alex” and accused him of being on a “mad march to oblivion” in a series of increasingly angry and eccentric letters to Alex Salmond about the windfarms he claimed were blighting his Scottish golf courses. Donald Trump harangued the former first minister of Scotland as “Mad Alex” and accused him of being on a “march to oblivion” in a series of increasingly angry and eccentric letters to Alex Salmond about the windfarms Trump claimed were blighting his Scottish golf courses.
The letters, revealed by the Huffington Post through a freedom of information request, show Trump’s tone swinging wildly between coaxing and threatening. He told Salmond that his dream of Scottish independence would be “gone with the wind” if he continued to support windfarm developments, accusing the SNP leader of being “hellbent” on damaging Scotland’s coastline and then insisting that his own motives were to “save Scotland” and “honour my mother”, who was born on the Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the US in her early 20s.The letters, revealed by the Huffington Post through a freedom of information request, show Trump’s tone swinging wildly between coaxing and threatening. He told Salmond that his dream of Scottish independence would be “gone with the wind” if he continued to support windfarm developments, accusing the SNP leader of being “hellbent” on damaging Scotland’s coastline and then insisting that his own motives were to “save Scotland” and “honour my mother”, who was born on the Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the US in her early 20s.
Referring to windfarms as “monsters”, he suggested that Salmond “let them ruin the coastline of Sweden first”, insisting that “wind power doesn’t work” and warning the then first minister that “your economy will become a third world wasteland that investors will avoid”. Referring to windfarms as “monsters”, the series of letters suggested that Salmond “let them ruin the coastline of Sweden first”, insisting that “wind power doesn’t work” and warning the then first minister that “your economy will become a third world wasteland that investors will avoid”.
Trump has been involved in long-running rows over the impact of windfarms on his Scottish golf courses and last December lost a supreme court battle against an experimental offshore array being built in the North Sea several miles off his links course in Aberdeenshire.Trump has been involved in long-running rows over the impact of windfarms on his Scottish golf courses and last December lost a supreme court battle against an experimental offshore array being built in the North Sea several miles off his links course in Aberdeenshire.
Earlier in the year, Salmond urged Americans not to vote for Trump, claiming he had a “bullying” and unpredictable nature that made him unfit to be US president, and revealing for the first time what he described as “green ink” letters that were sent by courier across the Atlantic. The letters, dated from September 2011 to June 2013, show the billionaire fulminating at the consequences of windfarm development, as well as displaying a rather partial grasp of Scottish history: “The people of Scotland will forever suffer! With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history!”
“You seem hellbent on destroying Scotland’s coastline and therefore Scotland itself,” he writes on 9 February 2012. “But I will never be ‘on board’, as you have stated I would be, with this insanity. As a matter of fact, I have just authorised my staff to allocate a substantial amount of money to launch an international campaign to fight your plan to surround Scotland’s coast with many thousands of wind turbines - it will be like looking through the bars of a prison and the Scottish citizens will be the prisoners!”
In another epistle, this time addressed to Philip Hammond, Trump thanked the then defence secretary for “your ongoing objection to these horrendous machines that will ruin Scotland and compromise the United Kingdom’s Air Defence program.” He concluded: “The defence of the UK is far too important to tinker with just to satisfy Alex Salmond’s bloated ego.”
Earlier this year, Salmond urged Americans not to vote for Trump, claiming he had a “bullying” and unpredictable nature that made him unfit to be US president, and revealing for the first time what he described as “green ink” letters that were sent by courier across the Atlantic.
Shortly after his shock election victory last month, Trump turned to Nigel Farage to help him in lobbying against the development of windfarms, which he has fought against being built near his Scottish golf courses.Shortly after his shock election victory last month, Trump turned to Nigel Farage to help him in lobbying against the development of windfarms, which he has fought against being built near his Scottish golf courses.
According to a member of the delegation that went with the then Ukip leader to meet the president-elect in the US, Trump said he was “dismayed that his beloved Scotland has become overrun with ugly wind farms which he believes are a blight on the stunning landscape”. According to a member of the delegation that went with the then Ukip leader to meet the president-elect in the US, Trump said he was “dismayed that his beloved Scotland has become overrun with ugly windfarms which he believes are a blight on the stunning landscape”.