Brexit is only the beginning says Trump

Trump, touting his golf course, promises Brexit is only the beginning

'This will not be the last,' he says from the front yard of his club in Scotland.

By Ben Schreckinger

Donald Trump arrived in a country swept up by the whirlwind of history, and leaned into it. Then, he talked about his golf course.

Having backed off his endorsement of a British departure from the European Union only two days prior, Trump fully embraced it on Friday morning, hours after the United Kingdom surprised the world by voting in favor it, when he touched down here for his first trip abroad at the presumptive Republican nominee.

“Basically, they took back their country. That’s a great thing,” Trump told reporters shortly after landing by helicopter on the front lawn of his golf resort here, saying he believes Friday’s result is only the beginning of a much broader outpouring of nationalism. “This will not be the last,” he said.

But with world markets tanking and Scotland’s government making preparations to leave the UK, Trump delivered an address about his golf course, reinforcing the image of a nominee torn between his business and his campaign.

“Even people that truly hate me are saying it’s the best they’ve ever seen,” he said, before inviting his three adult children to give remarks.

At the press conference that followed, Trump was asked if he’d been conferring with his foreign policy advisers. “I’ve been in touch with them, but there’s nothing to talk about,” he responded.

Challenged about his decision to take time off from his struggling campaign for a foreign business trip, Trump cut off his questioner, saying, “You know why I’m here? Because I support my children.”

With the value of the British pound falling sharply off the results of the referendum, Trump welcomed the development as a boon to tourism and exports. "If the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry frankly,” he said.

Asked if he would step away from his businesses while he runs for president — the path supported by 69 percent of voters in a new CNN/ORC poll – Trump said, “I don’t think it matters while I’m running.”

Trump used the result of the vote to repeatedly hit Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, whose support for Remain he said may have tipped the vote for Leave. “If he had not said it I think your result might’ve been different,” said Trump, calling Obama’s campaigning against Brexit “inappropriate.”

Trump said that Clinton, his presumptive Democratic opponent, opposed Brexit because she takes her cues from the president, and that both of them have repeatedly misread the world.

“For the 219th time, they were wrong,” he said.

Trump also predicted the unraveling of the EU, saying, “It looks like it’s on its way and we’ll see what happens.” Trump said he knows many Germans who are fanatically patriotic — “to a level you wouldn’t believe” — and that, fed up with immigration, he could see them supporting a German exit, a move that would deprive the union of its most important member.

Trump attributed the outcome of Thursday’s referendum to many of the same factors propelling his own presidential run. “They’re angry over borders. They’re angry over people coming into the country and taking over, and nobody even knows who they are. They’re angry about many, many things,” he said.

Trump’s campaign issued a formal statement pledging his administration would, “strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense.” The statement said American in November voters will have a chance to follow suit and “reject today’s rule by the global elite.”

By the time Trump touched down around 9:30 a.m. — flanked by his son, Eric, and daughter, Ivanka — only a handful of locals had gathered across the street to take in his arrival by helicopter. Scotland, which voted against Brexit and may now leave the UK to remain part of the EU, was occupied with other matters. (Despite Brexit’s unpopularity here, Trump tweeted upon arrival, “Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!”)

“We were expecting loads of people,” said Rebecca McKee, of Hampton, Virginia, who has lived in Scotland for 21 years. Hampton and her family were among the first to arrive.

On the grounds of the clubhouse, more than a hundred reporters, guests and employees in red “Made Turnberry Great Again” hats awaited Trump, who, flanked by son Eric and daughter, was greeted with bagpipes.

After Trump’s arrival, a few hundred protesters, including two busloads from Glasgow, lined the road between the clubhouse and the golf course. One demonstrator waved a Mexican and a Scottish flag, affixed together to a single pole.

Because of Trump’s tarnished image here and Thursday’s referendum vote, Scottish leaders steered clear of the event.

"It's absolutely a national disgrace that there's none of the four main parties represented," said Alan Weir, a member of the club, in between voting in favor of Brexit and playing a round of golf on Thursday.

Politics aside, those like Weir who are fortunate enough to play at Turnberry love what Trump’s done with the place, which he bought from a Dubai-government-owned entity in 2014.

At Trump’s first Scottish course, in Aberdeenshire, his popularity soured after he clashed with local residents and opposed a popular wind farm project.

At Turnberry, where the wind turbines are just inland of the golf course and to the South, tucked among pastures of cows, his ownership is less controversial.

An enormous Scottish flag now flies over the course, a sister to the enormous American flag at Mar-a-Lago that brought Trump into conflict with the city of Palm Beach.

Trump used a refurbished lighthouse near the 9th hole as the backdrop for his press conference. The lighthouse has been outfitted with ultra-expensive suites and a snack bar that was manned late Thursday by a Slovenian immigrant, no relation to her boss’s Slovenian wife, Melania.

Weir, a landlord from Lancashire, said the course provides refuge from the turmoil of the world around him. “I just ignore the politics and enjoy the golf.”