Not that it will matter to his supporters, but Trump's business prowess -- the promise of bringing jobs back to Scotland and reviving the economy isn't going so well. He has committed the most spectacular con on the most powerful country on earth. Breathtaking...
Trump’s top example of foreign experience: A Scottish golf course losing millions
BALMEDIE, Scotland — When Donald Trump arrives this weekend at the golf course he built on the rugged dunes of this remote, windswept corner overlooking the North Sea, he will celebrate it as an example of his international business success.
He bought the property north of Aberdeen more than a decade ago as his first European project — a chance to establish the Trump brand in his mother’s native country. He has pointed to it as a precursor to his bid for the U.S. presidency.
“When I first arrived on the scene in Aberdeen, the people of Scotland were testing me to see just how serious I was — just like the citizens in the United States have done about my race for the White House,” Trump wrote in a column published this spring in a local newspaper under the headline “How Scotland will help me become president.”
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I had to win them over — I had to convince them that I meant business and that I had their best interests in mind,” he wrote. “Well, Scotland has already been won — and so will the United States.”
But to many people in Scotland, his course here has been a failure. Over the past decade, Trump has battled with homeowners, elbowed his way through the planning process, shattered relationships with elected leaders and sued the Scottish government. On top of that, he has yet to fulfill the lofty promises he made.
Trump has also reported to Scottish authorities that he lost millions of dollars on the project — even as he claims on U.S. presidential disclosure forms that the course has been highly profitable.Trump’s original plan: a sprawling resort in the ancestral home of golf with two courses, a 450-room luxury hotel and spa, a conference center, employee housing, a turf-grass research center and a holiday community with hundreds of villas, condos and homes. The project would pump millions of dollars into the local economy and create 6,000 jobs — maybe even 7,000 jobs, Trump said at one news conference. Tourists would travel here from around the world, he promised, along with well-known celebrities such as Scottish actor Sean Connery.
Today, the Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen employs 150 people and consists of one golf course that meanders through the sand dunes, a clubhouse with a restaurant and 19 rooms for rent in a renovated mansion and former carriage house. There is also a maintenance facility and a road running through the property. Lonely and desolate, the resort has attracted no major tournaments, and neighbors say the parking lot is rarely, if ever, full.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-top-example-of-foreign-experience-a-scottish-golf-course-losing-millions/2016/06/22/12ae9cb0-1883-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_scotland-1250pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
