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Subscribe to RSSDonald Trump, who built a golf resort along the coast of Scotland wants to stop a wind farm of turbines from being built off shore. ITN's Lewis Vaughan Jones reports.
Donald Trump swept into Scotland's parliament on Wednesday to demand the country end plans for an offshore wind farm he fears will spoil the view at his exclusive new $1.2-billion golf resort.
In a typically blunt display, the property tycoon told an inquiry into renewable energy to stop the wind power efforts in the country's north.
"Scotland, if you pursue this policy of these monstrous turbines, Scotland will go broke," he said. "They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us."
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Donald Trump speaks to members of public following his address to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday.
Members of the committee are looking at how achievable the Scottish government's green targets for 2020 are. The plans for 11 200-foot tall wind turbines are part of the government's goal of positioning itself as a leader in renewable energy.
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world-class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.
'They wanted my money'
Trump claimed Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and his predecessor Jack McConnell gave him verbal assurances a wind farm would not be built off the coast of his resort.
"They wanted my money," Trump said. "I was lured into buying the site, after I had spent my money they came and announced the plan. At the time I bought the land I felt confident the wind farm was not going to happen."
Filmmaker Anthony Baxter talks about real estate mogul Donald Trump's plan to build a billion-dollar golf course on a stretch of coastline in Scotland and the ensuing battle with local residents.
The inquiry, recorded by broadcaster BBC Scotland, heard that Trump paid $7.2 million for the majority of the land eight miles north of Aberdeen in January 2006. The resort is due to open on July 10.
There was an irony to Trump's complaints: When Salmond backed Trump's plans for the resort, he was hailed a "great man" by the tycoon.
Only four years ago, the two men appeared to be the best of golfing friends, when Mr Trump invited Salmond and actor Sir Sean Connery – who endorses Salmond’s pro-independence political party -- to join him on the first tee at the opening of the resort.
But Trump turned on the leader over plans to put the wind farm off the coast and within view of the golf course. He claims the turbines will ruin the environment and will be bad for tourism.
In February, Trump wrote a public letter to Salmond announcing an international crusade against wind farm developments around Scotland’s coast, The Scotsman reported.
In a furious attack, Trump accused Salmond of being “hell-bent on destroying Scotland’s coastline and therefore Scotland itself.”
He wrote: “You will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history!”
The course was built on sand dunes despite protests from locals and environmentalists. The dunes, which were home to rare wading birds, were bulldozed to make way for the fairways in 2009 and 2010.
Donald Trump will start construction on a billion-dollar resort in northeast Scotland despite the objections of local homeowner Michael Forbes. Now environmentalists, activists, and scientists are joining the fight. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
Scotland's tourism agency said its own research shows 83 percent of UK visitors will not be turned off by turbines.
"We are both reassured and encouraged by the findings of our survey which suggest that, at the current time, the overwhelming majority of consumers do not feel wind farms spoil the look of the countryside," said VisitScotland chief Malcolm Roughead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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hahahaha Trump got screwed in a business deal! hahahah
Goooood. Gooooood.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/PrimitiveScrewhead1973/goodgood.gif
"Trump, you're fired!"
Good going Scotland! Trump was "Hoisted with his own petard........the world loved it.....highligted quote for those who might not understand it.
It's about time trump (who has screwed so many people on land deals) gets a shot of his own medicine. Trump is a coward and a blowhard.
Trump is the biggest bag of wind in Scotland. What a joke this pathetic publicity hound is. Destroyed a nature preserve for his course, then claims to be THE biggest expert on tourism in Scotland. He is the biggest SOMETHING, but I will get banned from newsvine if I print it.
Please tell me how 11 mills will ruin the entire coast of Scotland. PLEASE Scotland, don't listen to this shill. Stand by your guns...
There's a sad irony in opposing 'ugly' wind turbines when the alternative is more pollution from fossil fuels.
Renewable energy infrastructure will ruin Scotland's environment - says the man who bulldozed a wildlife preserve!!
Can we start arresting people for being narcissistic douche bags. Seriously, Scotland if you want to throw him in jail for contempt of Parliament or something be my guest! What a tool.
I hope they build 500000 of those turbines just to piss Donald Chump off.
WAAAHHH! I'm Donald Trump and I'm gonna cry!
The man holds a PHD in Douchebaggery...
I would bet Scotland has a Emanate Domain law. They should use it take his resort and bulldoze it and put up more turbines.
They laughed at him. They laughed right in his face. Scotland Is AWESOME!!!!!!!
He is the biggest windbag out there. He could power up several turbines all by himself.
We visited Copenhagen last year and looked at wind mills in the ocean out the hotel window. We were not offended. We say Good for you. Tell the all the rich folks to fly a kite. Most rich Americans what all the goodies in life without and interference to their views. Build those wind mills and send Sir Donald on his way.
Donald, you are a smart business person; remember the Rule of Moses; IF GOD WANTED MOSES TO HAVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS VERBALLY HE WOULD NOT HAVE WRITTEN THEM IN STONE , why did you not get that agreement in writing ?
Scotland is making a mistake. It costs more to maintain the turbines then the energy sells for. California and Hawaii are two examples of this failed technology. If it weren't for the tax subsidies no one could have afforded to stay in business. The turbines produce a constant humming. The turbines kill from 75,000 to 250,000 birds annually. Scotland needs to listen to Trump. It's a populist bogus green maneuver that will destroy the environment and end up being a broken down rust farm.
People of Newsvine we should not be calling Trump names we should be celebrating what this man has to say. Thank you Mr.Trump for showing everyone how pompous, greedy and selfish the 1% of the 1% are.
You bought land on the cheap from Scotland. Wiped out a wildlife preserve and built a golf course. Now you feel that the entire coast goes with the land you purchased. The view is owned by you. How about the air and water in that area? All owned by you? You now have an excuse to file your third or is it forth bankruptcy if this venture fails. Hell, you are obviously morally bankrupt so it's at least four.
You truly believe that the benefit of the environment is "trumped" by your selfish wants. 11 turbines, that's "eleven" turbines, are going to completely ruin the Scottish coast. I've never been to Scotland but by your description the coast of Scotland can't be any more than what, 500 yards? Should they ax the idea entirely and build a nuclear plant a few miles down the road? They can't do solar because I hear it's mostly cloudy there and the days they do have sun it might reflect off the solar panels into their eyes.
You aren't a self made man, you took what your father started and screwed as many people as you could to get where you are. Too bad you are sitting on top of the dung pile because you should be fired or at the very least, lose the ability to speak.
As for my eveidence, I am the evidence, I know how to read.
Donald: Those windmills might just slow the wind speed on your golf course enough to prevent your toupee from blowing off. You should be happy!
Callie Ann: I'm always touched by how deeply conservatives care about birds whenever the subject of wind power comes up.
This story sort of reminds me of Don Quixote. Keep fighting the wind mills Mr. Trump, may be a book will be written about your adventures some day.
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world-class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.
Nuf said
If the loud mouth scammer Trump knows so much about tourism, why did his casinos habitually file for bankruptcy? Hmmm. Who was scimming the pot? Hmmm.
Scotland best stand their ground because Trump will do the same as he does to everyone and everywhere else -- He'll screw them. He's already robbed the properties of the local citizens, underpaying the values; cutting their water off when they refused to sell among other destructive means to secure the properties.
@realDonaldTrump (twitter) and his scamming family in their usual arrogant misrepresentations, attended the ribbon cutting of the new Trump Hotel in Toronto. Truth is - he doesn't own ONE BRICK in the hotel/condo building. As in other projects, all he did was sell his name for millions and therefore misrepresenting to the public the properties when they make public appearances for the project. The Contractor/Builder of the Toronto Hotel/Condo -- Toronto may have been very lucky in that it was his first building project EVER. He'd never constructed even a table before the hotel but paid millions to Trump for his name and misrepresented the property to the public for over-pricing and profit.
Trump did the same for a Condo project in Florida. Sold his name with no ownership interest. The difference, the project never got built and the people who bought are still fighting and in court proceedings to get their deposits back. It's been ongoing for years.
Thank you to the Scottish people for laughing at him. He thinks he can dictate not only in the United States, but anywhere in the world. As he's so proud to say - the people in Scotland should say to him -- 'YOUR FIRED`and kick his fat combover arse right out of the country.
I think Nessie needs to be fed!
I think Trump is just afraid that the wind turbines will blow off his hair.
Go Scotland! As for tourism, I'll visit any place that trumps Trump!
In the new World, where life is celebrated as being a right of all, the needs of the many trumps the needs of the few.
Sorry, double post. But will utilize the opportunity.
Trump sells his name to developments to add a sense of quality and that is all.
Original Article Title: Donald Trump to Scotland: Abandon 'monstrous' wind farm plans
Alternate Article Title: DBAM to Trump: Abandon 'monstrous' rug atop your
numbskull.I'm also curious if anyone has ever thought about fitting Trump's mouth with wind turbines? He's an incredible blow hard and his ego is big enough to support the weight of a turbine - he might actually be able to solve our energy problems on his own.
Let me see now, who was it that opposed wind mills off Nantucket for exactly the same reason as the Donald, why that would be every liberals favorite Teddy Kennedy. I don't care for Don at all, who has in years past been a registered Democrat.
What's really sad is that Trump doesn't know how much of a joke he's become to most of the non-Tea Party US and the rest of the world. I think he actually believes his own claims.
It is awesome that he got screwed in a business deal. Starboard this is a story about Trump and Scotland, how did you get to Nantucket? Oh yea you cant help but politicize everything. Hack.
All he cares about is how does this effect himself. He is a massive, steaming pile.
Wind mills save very little in carbon emmisions. Wind is not on demand energy so you still have to have a backup on idle to make up for when they cannot keep up. If the backup burns fossil fuels it is still generating carbon. The ramp up to full production in a coal burner can actually INCREASE emmissions. If the back up is nuclear there were no emmissions anyway. In short, wind isn't all that great an asset in preventing emmissions.
For the rest of you, Trump does a combover not a toupee. Get it right. So tedious when people slander someone using bad facts. Not that I am a fan of Trump mind you...
This quote of his confuses me..."and they are laughing at us." At who Donald?! Have you recently become Scottish?
The most vulgar man in the world.
I look at a windmill and all I see is beauty. There is something truly wonderful seeing technology and nature meet, and for once be in harmony.
Donald...go build something in hell!
Chris, Around the North Sea there is seldom a day without wind. A wind turbine farm is never considered a primary source. Fossil fuel plants and nuclear plants are always on-line as they are considered primary so there is little starting up excess carbon. Besides, wind power can be stored in many forms for demand when the wind lays down. Hydrogen, batteries, etc, etc.
trump(et) can take his egotistic self and stop lying to the entire World. Really, a wind farms is going to scare away tourism. Get real. If anything, trump(et) should think about day cruises for tourists to visit the farm. Look at how many tourists visit the Dutch windmills, both the old and the new wind farm of their coast. What he is doing is advertising for his golf course. Power generation is a need for many and his precious golf course intended for the 1%. trump(et) is out of touch with reality as the 99% take over ruling the World and he is left counting his precious money numbers.
Scotland should tell Trump to stick it in his ear!
Whoa! Not in his ear.
Trump is in the recently organized right wing opera. Can't you hear them all sing . . . ."Me ... me . . . me . . . . me . . . . meeeeeee."
They are greedy, self-centered, egotistical, with absolutely no concern for anyone, anything but themselves. "Me . . . me . . . me . . . . me . . . . meeeeeee.
And the chorus, led by Romney and wifey, . . . "no one matters but meeeeeeeee."
I think that could be said of either party.
Where's William Wallace when we need him?
Skewer the Trump and eat his fatty liver.
The concept of equivalence is phony in the case of conservative vs liberal politics. It is not the same to say that liberals share the conservative disregard for the environment. It is not the same to say that liberals share the conservative disregard for social inequality. It is not the same to say that liberals believe in an ignorant religious mythology that the conservatives promote in lieu of scientific knowledge. Let's not pretend that we're all the same. The conservatives march into the past with pride, while progressive liberals look towards a better future for everyone. The only genuine equivalence is that we will be dragged into a future we all must share . . . one doomed by conservative insanity or one properly prepared for by progressive intervention. If conservatives dare ignore the lessons of history and pursue their "let them eat cake" philosophy, they will get to (repeatedly) suffer their historical fate.
Never, ever, tell the Scots what to do.
He may have money, but he is not Scottish and only owns a small portion of the country.
Scots to Trump "Abandon monstrous real estate development"!
See how that feels Mr. T?
How DARE Scotland prioritize the needs of the people ahead of the view for the elite! The Donald is a whiny, arrogant douche. :)
STFU Donald Chump. The Scots should let him have it brave-heart style, blade to balls.
I generally consider golfcourses eye-sores, and a waste of water in arid areas, and habitat everywhere else. People go to Holland to see the windmills, and the Eiffel Tower was initially considered an eyesore. Trump is more worried about pocket sores.
Gee.... pollution-free energy or "The Donald", I KNOW which one I would choose!
I think wind turbines are very nice looking. Almost majestic.
I wouldn't mind them sitting off the coast as I teed off in Scotland.
Donald, you're fired. lose the rug too. Bald is ok.
Golf courses are the second biggest waste of real estate. The first being cemeteries.
That is why he is so concerned with the turbines, they may mess up or ever worse blow off that dead animal he has on his head.
Naw, Trump doesn't want the wind farm near his golf course b/c it'll mess up his comb-over.
One of the commenters early on had the right idea when it was suggested that Trump is the biggest bag of wind in Scotland..........just have him sit in the field near the windmills and their efficiency will increase exponentially...........What a wonderful President Trump would have made!
Trump is such an ass....he will ruin scotland..resort only for the rich...not normal people.
Scotland should build a windmill in front of the Donald's mouth!
They would need more than one.
Yes, they could solve their energy problems by building a wind farm right in front of The Donald's mouth!
Exactly my thought. He's got enough hot air coming out of his mouth every day to be his own wind farm.
"They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous."
“You will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history!”
“hell-bent on destroying Scotland’s coastline and therefore Scotland itself.”
Said Mr Salmond about Mr Trump's golf course...
I golf at a course surrounded by windmills and it hasn't affected my enjoyment of the course or view. Trump is just being melodramatic.
Trump? Melodramatic?? Naaah ....
Trump destroying the environment one million dollars at a time! Ugh drop over already you puffed up egotistical toad!
We have wind towers here in Texas. People stop on the side of the road and watch them, and I love to watch them as well. They aren't noisy either.
Freedom for Scottland/ support the Scottish people.................. kick Donald Duck out.
freedom-supporter, I get your point. But please, Donald Duck is a war hero, and a celebrity/entertainer. Donald Trump is none of those. The closest Trump comes to an entertainer is that he is just a joke.
Stick to your guns, Scotland. I know you will.
.
Don't count on it. The Scottish courts let the Libyan Lockerbie bomber out of prison because he was "imminently dying" of cancer. How many years ago was that, and he's still alive and kicking??
I don't believe that it was the courts. If I remember correctly, it was Scotland's Minister of Justice.
If Trump wants a golf course he can go elsewhere where there is no wind and F**K himself. Energy is more important than golf -- and this bozo thought about running for POTUS.
No wind on the moon...
Maybe he can team up w/ Gingrich to get there.
Oh no ...The Donald has the same problem in Scotland that Teddy Kennedy had in Mass.....
Last spring we took a Baltic cruise. There were windfarms everywhere. I never heard a negative comment from anyone about them. In fact, the consensus was, they were beautiful. they were quiet and they are where we in the US should be in terms or alternative energy. Every time we passed one, passengers came out on deck to take pictures and ooh and aah. I think The Donald is in a snit because they refuse to change the name of the country from Scotland to Trumpland!
Of course he is in a snit. he is not getting his way. can you believe he has the nerve to go there and demand they take them down. hey donald duck you ARE NOT God.
Thank you for your accurate summary and the new name for Emperor Trump's new kingdom.....can't add or improve on your suggestions at all..........except to second others' comments on the location of the windmills in front of Trump's big windy face hole.
What a blustering tool! Trump is an apt name for this blowhard. He trumps up everything. He's so full of himself but so bereft of facts. He's the complete, consummate bully. Hopefully Scotland will tell Trump to take a hike. He cares not a wit about the environment nor Scotland. He's nothing but a carnival barker and a total embarrassment to the U.S. What a small, small pathetic person. No wonder the Scottish public gallery laughed at his preposterous claims.
Perhaps 'the Donald' fears his comb over will get caught in the blades of a wind turbine and launch him into the English Channel? Perhaps he's right.
Do us all a favor, build the turbines and let us see if it is a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Rap
Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world-class expert in tourism." The public gallery burst into laughter.
Trump is a world class expert in buffoonery ... another reason for birth control; stupid people shouldn't be allowed to breed.
Trump didn't care about the habitat for the rare wading birds, nor did he care about the local residents and environmentalists concerns. Trump just cares about what he wants. Why doesn't he build something in the USA that would create jobs? I'm sure Scotland needs a golf course tho.
True definition of Trump the Republican who wanted to be president.......next we will see oil wells being drilled on the golf course in Scotland.........THOSE are beautiful $$$$$$$ and so much nicer than those ?noisy windmills............BS Mr. Duck
i like turtles that like golf and windfarms!
What a tool.
Into each life a little rain must fall. LOL
I live in Palm Beach County, Florida and through the years have read about many temper tantrums from The Donald towards our local govt. Now that Scotland has made a deal with the devil to bulldoze their prestine beaches, he will forever be a telling you what to do and what not to do. In his twisted greedy mind, He owns you now.
Talk about being a hypocrite!!! He destroys natural sand dunes and bird habitats to build his stupid golf course, then complains about windmills that will produce valuable renewable energy?
I actually like seeing wind turbines.....don't care much for golf courses.
This story highlights the insanity plaguing our world, one man attempting to dictate to a nation how it should produce it's energy. I sincerely hope that Scotland isn't taking him seriously, because developing green technologies will be necessary in the near future, and they are acting responsibly (one of the few). The only reassuring thing I can take from all this is, no matter how much money you have, once you're dead, you're dead, and if we are judged after crossing over, Trump will get what he has coming to him. There is no sin in being rich, but how you use your wealth is another story. Donald Trump: the poster boy of how not to act.