X Close

Why the Scots love Trump They are tired of progressive poseurs

Tartan jingoism isn't the only reason they love Trump (Photo by DEREK BLAIR/AFP via Getty Images)

Tartan jingoism isn't the only reason they love Trump (Photo by DEREK BLAIR/AFP via Getty Images)


November 8, 2024   6 mins

Irvine Welsh thinks the man is a fascist; Brian Cox says he is a monster; Gordon Brown thinks he will destroy democracy. But among those many famous Scottish voices fulminating about Donald Trump, spare a thought for someone you have probably never heard of: MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton.

As voting closed in America on Tuesday night, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats was enthusiastically changing his X handle to “Alex Cole-Hamala”, reminding us that last month he had taken leave from the Scottish Parliament to campaign in Pennsylvania on Harris’s behalf. By Wednesday morning, he was forlornly telling The Scotsman that though his heroine “came really close”, “a dark new chapter in American history” was now beginning. “I am proud to have been among the Democrats fighting for Pennsylvania” he continued. “I am sorry it was not enough”.

Overweening delusions of grandeur and an inability to count aside, you could be forgiven for thinking that Cole-Hamilton’s negative reaction to Trump’s victory represented a fairly typical Scottish take. It sometimes seems as if being anti-Trump is the only thing holding an otherwise fractiously divided citizenry together — an antipathy apparently crossing class boundaries, sectarian rivalries, men versus women, Nats versus yoons.

According to her obituaries this week, one of the things for which the late Glaswegian comedian Janey Godley was best loved for was holding a sign saying “Trump is a cunt” while standing outside the then presidential candidate’s Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire. Yesterday, by way of tribute, The Guardian marshalled a series of outraged vox pops from dog walkers on Turnberry beach, primly noting that the only person they found who was pleased Trump won had “relatives in the United States”.

Indeed, such is the Caledonian reputation for hating the man that it seems some pro-Harris Americans are now investigating Scottish citizenship in the wake of his triumph. On Wednesday The National reported that Google had seen a surge in US-based web searches for “how to move to Scotland”, presumably emanating from disgruntled Democrat voters. Though no longer in government coalition himself, Green MSP Patrick Harvie was quoted as responding magisterially that “We believe in a Scotland that is open and welcome to all, a country that removes barriers rather than building walls… we are working to build a fairer, greener and more welcoming society that is the opposite of Trump’s destructive and hateful vision.”

In fact, though, conditions on the ground might not be as favourable as Harvie assumes. While Americans went to the polls, some fascinating alternative findings were simultaneously emerging from data collector Norstat. These indicated that, contrary to the standard narrative, Trump’s approval ratings are higher in Scotland than anywhere else in Western Europe. A quarter of Scottish respondents wanted him to win over Harris, as compared with 16% in the UK as a whole, 15% in Germany, and 14% in France. When you consider that both of the latter have a surging Right-wing electoral presence — and that Scotland doesn’t, at least on paper — the substantial difference in numbers look even more intriguing. Equally, according to the polling company, Scotland had the second lowest preference for Harris of all the countries surveyed, standing at 56%.

Assuming this data extrapolates more generally, what might be afoot? A simple explanation of the difference with other countries is that some inhabitants of Scotland see Donald John Trump as one of their own. His 18th century ancestors were victims of the Highland Clearances. His mother was born into a crofting family on the Isle of Lewis and spoke Gaelic before she spoke English. Indeed, clever local Labour MP Torcuil Crichton wrote on Wednesday — ruefully referring to the two named halves of the Hebridean island of Trump’s ancestors — “Congratulations to another son of Lewis, though I’ve never wished more to have woken today in the Isle of Harris.”

The President-elect has played up his Scottish origins many times, perhaps preferring them to a less marketable story about paternal German ancestry. He has also heavily invested in Turnberry and a separate golf course he owns in Aberdeenshire, with another one on the way, to be named after his mother. Both facts must have induced at least grudging affection in some. For once you know about his background, the facial features of one of the most powerful men in the world can sometimes mistily resolve into those of a Highland factor or fisherman, while you marvel at the gestalt switch. And the relentless patter suddenly seems more familiar too. As Kevin Bridges once put it: “Everything Donald Trump has said, I have heard from a Glasgow taxi driver.”

But tartan jingoism and a bit of financial self-interest can’t be the only reasons some Scots apparently now view the mogul as the lesser of two evils. When Godley mounted her one-woman protest at Turnberry in 2016, it was a different time. The most the average person knew about Trump was that he had been in the original version of The Apprentice, was the world’s richest ginger minger, and was running for president, to general incredulity. Political aficionados with their fingers on the pulse also knew he advocated grabbing women by the pussy, locking up Hillary Clinton, “draining the swamp” and “building a wall”.

It was easy to feel honourably defensive on behalf of immigrants of the non-English sort — Scotland hardly had any. Meanwhile, back then Nicola Sturgeon could still say what a woman was, and the only time a Scottish politician ever took the knee was when celebrating a Celtic win. Intersectionality was probably something to do with town planning, though no one knew exactly what.

Unaware as most were about virtue-signalling excesses soon to come, it was easy to react to Trump’s existence with that most traditional of Scottish responses: mockery of the absurdly rich and entitled. Godley’s action at Turnberry was very much in this vein: an irreverent deflation of elite pomposity and hubris, enjoyably cathartic to witness. She was the underdog David facing off a ridiculous foreign Goliath. What could be more satisfying to watch than that? In the best possible sense, her gesture was a populist one, a fact not belied by the fact that she ended up espousing various woke causes soon afterwards.

Because let’s face it: soon afterwards, nearly everybody did. By 2018 — the same  year Greta Thunberg hit the scene, trans lassies suddenly became lassies, and the University of Glasgow started to decolonise its curriculum — Scottish anti-Trump protests had become both much larger and a lot more sanctimonious. Those attending them were quoted rhapsodising about the “inclusive atmosphere”, a dead giveaway they were moving with the times. Greenpeace mounted a paragliding protest at Turnberry. Owen Jones, never knowingly understated, fronted a short film about the Scottish protests to plead for Guardian subscriptions so that his employer could fight “a man who represents bigotry, hatred, misogyny, and racism, who threatens the environment and who threatens international peace”.

Two years later George Floyd died in Minneapolis, and University of Edinburgh bosses responded by taking 18th century philosopher David Hume’s name off a building for being “racist”. It was probably around this time prescient Scots began to suspect that not all anti-Trumpians were on the same side.

Fast-forward to 2024, and a substantially larger part of the Scottish population have now had their fill of vacuous posturing from politicians, academics, and activist journalists. They are tired of superficially rousing soundbites and high-minded policies about gender, race, lockdowns, farming, fishing, and oil, running directly contrary to the interests of many working-class and lower middle-class voters. It is small wonder some Scots seem to have taken Harris’s verbal porridge with a hefty pinch of salt. It all feels so familiar, somehow.

“It is small wonder some Scots seem to have taken Harris’s verbal porridge with a hefty pinch of salt.”

And given this painful experience, it is conceivable that perspectives on Trump have also changed, at least a bit. Barely glimpsed in 2016, a rival Goliath to Trump has fully emerged into the light: a po-faced modern religion with a west coast American accent, even lighter on laughs than Calvinism, with influence in nearly every Scottish public institution and most especially at the top. Its impenetrable dogma is faithfully mouthed by nearly all those in positions of power, while criticism from outside the members-only club is dismissed as bigoted or thick. And Trump despises and laughs at it all.

Meanwhile, adding to a sense of enraging disconnect, some of the most vocal Scots-adjacent Trump denouncers and Kamala stans recently are obviously drawn from tribes and clans historically more likely to Clear rather than be Cleared: Rory Stewart of Eton and Balliol, for instance, whose family hails from Broich House in Crieff; or Alex Cole-Hamilton himself, descended from Anglo-Irish aristocracy. Faced with the lofty moralising of genetic patricians socially insulated from their own mistakes, discerning the true anti-Establishment Scottish reaction to Trump no longer seems quite so easy.

In the end, the average Scots position on Trump will partly come down to how what direct contact they have had with the hypocrisy and vested interests of progressive poseurs in the last decade, and whether they have suffered because of it. Equally, others won’t have updated their 2016-based priors. As historian Dominic Sandbrook pointed out to Stewart during a much circulated clip, most people are not on X/Twitter, don’t read newspaper op-eds, and have no interest in the political preoccupations of commentators either on Right or Left.

This of course includes Scottish people. To a lot of them, Trump probably still looks as ludicrous and unreliable as he did before: a rambling, self-important buffoon, vaguely reminiscent of that uncle who can’t help showing off at family gatherings and making lewd remarks to his nieces. To others, though, he now looks like he is standing outside the members-only club with them, laughing at the daft cunts inside.


Kathleen Stock is an UnHerd columnist and a co-director of The Lesbian Project.
Docstockk

Join the discussion


Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber


To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.

Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.

Subscribe
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

53 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
29 days ago

This makes it two brilliant articles in one day!
Trump’s triumph seems to have unleashed some fabulous wordage, and if that’s symptomatic of a return to high-spirited discourse, freed from the bounds of woke snobbery, it’s a triumph for us all.

Josef Švejk
Josef Švejk
26 days ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

The wonder is how woke managed to take over Scotland. I always thought them a sensible people. Perhaps lethargy and compliant institutions and media took hold.

Alan Melville
Alan Melville
25 days ago
Reply to  Josef Švejk

I blame Mel Gibson for Braveheart – re-started the whole nonsensical rubbish.

mike otter
mike otter
16 days ago
Reply to  Josef Švejk

The woke exist in a bubble and preach to their own choir in that bubble. Scots are too wise to pay much heed to these empty vessels. You only imagine the “woke” have taken over because of how loud they are. People mistake the tolerance and openness of Scots for “wokeness” but in fact its older than that – in the day we called it the “enlightenment”.

Thor Albro
Thor Albro
29 days ago

“the members only club…with the daft c–ts inside”. Thank you for the best ever one-line description of the woke cult!

Ralph Hanke
Ralph Hanke
28 days ago
Reply to  Thor Albro

Oh that closing line is f*****g hilarious. Thank you so much.

A Robot
A Robot
28 days ago

A great article, as always, from Dr. Stock. Remember Trump’s election slogan “Drill, Drill, Drill”? The Scottish National Party, the Greens and the Labour Party are all hell-bent on destroying the Scottish oil industry, so Trump’s slogan resonates here.

A Robot
A Robot
28 days ago

To set up the “surprise” that Trump is popular in Scotland, the article quotes a rather unrepresentative bunch of Scots. Irvine Welsh and Brian Cox live in London and the USA. Alex Cole-Hamilton (who he?). Patrick Harvie’s Scottish Greens got 3.8% of the general election vote. Last but not least, Gordon Brown, the man who, Canute-like, said he had abolished “boom and bust”. To give Brown his credit, he certainly managed to abolish boom.

Dennis Roberts
Dennis Roberts
28 days ago
Reply to  A Robot

Oh Brown definitely created a boom. It was funded by excessive debt which we’re all still paying off, but it was a boom and it should not be forgotten because of the massive harm it caused the country.

rchrd 3007
rchrd 3007
28 days ago
Reply to  A Robot

To give Canute his credit he was attempting to demonstrate that he did not have god like powers and therefore would not be able to hold the tide back. Not sure where that puts Gordie

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
26 days ago
Reply to  A Robot

Don’t forget Janey Godley. She died too late and hopefully we won’t see her like again

Andrew H
Andrew H
28 days ago

“….a po-faced modern religion with a west coast American accent, even lighter on laughs than Calvinism, with influence in nearly every Scottish public institution and most especially at the top.”
Marvellous stuff, Kathleen, truly marvellous. No wonder I look forward to your articles landing on a Friday morning.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
28 days ago
Reply to  Andrew H

Wokism -as a religion- is a lineal descendent of New England Puritanism, shorn of Jesus but with all the moral hauteur and intolerance intact, leaving them deaf even to facts and bereft of a sense of humor.

Malcolm Webb
Malcolm Webb
28 days ago

A truly marvellous article. It’s a keeper for me which I will return to regularly. Thank you.

Terry M
Terry M
28 days ago

A quarter of Scottish respondents wanted him to win over Harris
This is hardly a warm embrace. Scots have become ultra progressive the past decade. I pity them for that won’t end well.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
28 days ago
Reply to  Terry M

You know not of what you speak

kate Dunlop
kate Dunlop
28 days ago

It’s a shame that Dr. Stock, a Scot herself, falls into such stereotypical framing of her fellow countrymen and so fails to recognise the terrible burden of woke oppression that smothers open and legitimate political debate in Scotland. We are much further down the road to tyranny here than in neighbouring England and have the Hate Speech legislation and the captured institutions to prove it. As the majority of voters in the USA have done, Scots can recognise bull when they see it- as yet though, they have no path out of it. Donald Trump and his extraordinary team offer at least a glimpse of hope.

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
28 days ago
Reply to  kate Dunlop

Isn’t that the very point she’s making?

Derek Bryce
Derek Bryce
28 days ago
Reply to  kate Dunlop

Did you read the same piece as I did?

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
28 days ago

My bet is that a lot of Americans are becoming annoyed at the level of collusion between European government officials and the democrat party. Apparently the infamous false charges against Trump and his supporters regarding Russia had British and Australian involvement. Now we see British and Scottish government officials openly bragging about helping democrats. Pleasectell me how that is possibly considered the actions of allies?

Rebecca Levings
Rebecca Levings
28 days ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Alas, even after the Declaration of Independence, Britain has never reallly respected American sovereignty. Maybe on the surface, but not in reality. And vice versa. I guess now it is a 5 Eyes thing. We are busy being in each other’s business as well as spying on other countries. Which is why Oz is also involved.

But one would think that a foreign official campaigning on American soil for an American candidate would be against the law, as it is so blatant an interference. Of course Britain and Scotland are not the only violators.

Alex Lekas
Alex Lekas
28 days ago

It is beyond amusing how the people who accused the Russians of surreptitiously helping Trump were mute on Brits and Scots openly working for Team Harris. That should help the ‘special relationship.’ Nothing quite like mentally ill people as a president’s alleged partners. Most telling are the early citations of individuals who 1) keep using words they don’t understand and 2) still do not understand how Trump came to pass.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
28 days ago

My first wife hailed from The Isle of
Lewis and her father was born and
Raised in the same crofting village as Donald’s mother
Now here is something completely missing from this fine article and the comments
None of you can possibly even begin to understand of what I say next .Unless you have very close connections and lived expierence of life in The Isle of Lewis far less
Even a basic understanding of devout Presbyterian even more so
Of Free Presbyterian values
( Just as MSM had no comprehension whatsoever of that very fine Lass Kate Forbes who stood for leadership of the SNP when N.Sturgeon resigned as First Minister of The Scottish Government )
Well if you cared to enquire of the fine decent folks of Tong and it’s environs where Trumps mother hails from
As to their Thoughts regards D.Trump
You will be met with a cold stoney silence and the more you Quiz then
They shall turn their backs upon you and politely walk away
You all now wondering what this means
This is what it means Donald is wrong , bad and evil
And Particularly Free Presbyterian folks who have imbued in them NEVER EVER engage with such
Should you disagree then Only do so if you have lived in Lewis for many a year
Otherwise do as The Free Presbyterian does KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT

laurence scaduto
laurence scaduto
28 days ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

Dang. Remind me not to visit Lewis.

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
28 days ago

Don’t be put off; it’s a great place to visit and you can even get a pint on a Sunday now. I have family who hail from there, including some who still live there. Some people dislike Trump intensely while others are all for him. Admittedly, none of my relatives are from the same village as Trump’s mother, but you will find a mix of opinions on all subjects, the same as anywhere.
Along with all the Free Presbyterian miserablism, there is also a strong tradition of irreverence and poking fun at authority. There’s a great BBC Alba documentary called An Bothan, all about the illegal drinking dens of Ness that flourished in the decades when the district was dry. Well worth seeking out when it pops up on the iPlayer.

Andrew H
Andrew H
25 days ago

Yes indeed, Lewis, Harris, Scapa, Berneray….all wonderful places to visit. Harris in particular is breathtakingly spectacular.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
28 days ago

Ah but the Sea is wide and you can’t swim that far
Neither wings do you have to Fly
Oh Boatman come ferry you over
Ah but I’ll say no more as I’ve had a drink and Seldom sober
Oh come all ye Ferrymen and lower me down

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
28 days ago
Reply to  Brian Doyle

A relevant correction … the island you refer to is named Lewis and Harris.

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
28 days ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

True, but the island is almost bisected by large sea lochs and the two parts retain their own identity. Individuals will tell you that they are from Lewis OR Harris. I have picked up on the inhabitants of Harris being the butt of jokes, in a similar way to how the English regard the Welsh.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
28 days ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Have a go at convincing a Na
Heardach ( Hearach ) or a Leodhadach of that
The boundary line between Lewis and Harris is formed by Two Sea Lochs ten Km apart
Loch Resort in the West and Loch Seaforth in the East however almost connecting those lochs is a Sruth Brag No Abhainn ( Burn )
Historically such has and today
Fresh water courses form Boundaries in Scotland and as such No One can own Fresh Water
This also explains why Scotland suffers far less from the severe problems as England does regards water supply and sewage disposal
Who are served by Private Water Companies

Chipoko
Chipoko
28 days ago

Superb! What a brilliant final sentence!

andy young
andy young
28 days ago

Another banger from Kathleen. Apart from its other merits it illustrates the comedic effect of a well placed but sparingly used c-word. The spirit of Ian Dury lives on! Bravo!

Valerie Taplin
Valerie Taplin
28 days ago

If Trump can deliver the coup de grace to wokery, he will be doing the world a great service.

Peter Lee
Peter Lee
28 days ago

I recently spent two weeks in Edinburgh and did not meet or talk to one person that was a Trump Supporter. All spouted the MSM line.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
28 days ago
Reply to  Peter Lee

You mean they wear all sensible well adjusted people.
But isn’t Edinburgh lovely!

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
28 days ago

*were*
(Guffaw)

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
28 days ago

This is the kind of stupidity that I expect from Trumpbots. You won’t find many Trump cult members in Scotland. Statistically speaking, trending toward zero.

Liam F
Liam F
27 days ago

Brilliant! Well done Kathleen.

Davy Humerme
Davy Humerme
27 days ago

Kathleen. Absolutely brilliant. Whether you think Trump is Gallus, a “heid the ba’” or even a bawbag he has disrupted the grim calculus where woke commissars impose their puerile student Union dogma on the rest of us. Of course Adam Brysons cocked out ski pants and twirly umbrella dealt them a body blow. Not everyone in Scotland hates The Don as much as our puerile commentariat would wish.

Piggy6756 0
Piggy6756 0
27 days ago

Another superb article from Kathleen Stock. Aside from the content itself, with which I agree, more than any other writer she reminds me why I am in love with the English language, especially in the hands of a master crafts(wo)man.

0 0
0 0
26 days ago

A lot of fuss about not very big differences. Twice as many Scots preferred Harris as Trump. Part of the larger European pattern. Might make more sense to explain that strange circumstance.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
26 days ago
Reply to  0 0

Perhaps it has to do with the role of government. The Scottish and other Europeans are keen on having government provide services & play an outsized role in their lives. Whereas, clearly ‘woke’ exists in the USA, but there’s been traditionally a rather large contingent of ‘small government’ Americans. They basically want to be left alone; they’d like regulations reduced and government to get out of education, dictating how to raise their children. Recent surveys also show that immigrants from fascist or communist countries aren’t too keen on ‘big government’ either. The ‘revolutionary spirit’ continues to exist.

Kent Ausburn
Kent Ausburn
26 days ago
Reply to  0 0

GB and EU countries in general prefer Harris, and Democrats in general, as US presidents because they tend to be weaker, more pliable and eager to please the EU leaders. Allowing EU countries to shirk their 2% Nato obligation for years, with little to no protest, is just one example. It took Trump putting pressure on them, and the Ukraine war as well, to bring the number of countries in compliance to a somewhat better level. Needless to say, EU leaders were not happy about that.They also see the Dems as generally more in line with their traditional left-leaning politics, of course.

Dumetrius
Dumetrius
26 days ago

The USA patently needs a law enabling it to lock up foreigners who interfere in its democratic processes.

Particularly when they come from the country which in 1783 agreed to stay out of the United States’ domestic political affairs.

John Hughes
John Hughes
26 days ago

Donald Trump is the first American President whose mother, was born in Great Britain since Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), President 1913-21. Wilson’s mother was born Jesse Janet Woodrow, naming her son after her family surname. To quote wikipedia’s page on Wilson’s early life, “Wilson’s maternal grandfather, Reverend Thomas Woodrow, migrated from Paisley, Scotland to Carlisle, England, before moving to Chillicothe, Ohio in the late 1830s.[3] Joseph met Jessie while she was attending a girl’s academy in Steubenville, and the two married on June 7, 1849.” His mother was born in Carlisle, in the North of England, and arrived in the USA as a child, growing up in Ohio.

Alan Melville
Alan Melville
25 days ago

Good article, though I’d seriously hesitate before describing the late and unlamented Godley as a comedian.
Unless you are spelling it b.i.g.o.t.e.d California University No-name Twit.

mike otter
mike otter
16 days ago

Hopefully DJT will ask Starmer for reparitions – or else! After all i don’t think there’s any doubt who organised the clearances. Or the assault on the strikers in Glasgow 1919, or stealing the oil wealth from 1970s to today, or diverted literally tons of lab made china white around central Scotland in the 1980s – sadly this junkies Christmas didn’t stay on the M8 corridor and its mark remains today in almost every town in the country and a fair few in Northern England too.

Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
29 days ago

To tell truth, I have little respect for Scots. Insanity in the form of trans-crazy seems to be the thing prefer. If they liked Donald Trump, I would be worried that maybe I was making a wrong choice. You can tell a man’s goodness by the enemies he makes. The enmity of the Scots tells me all I need to know! 😉

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
29 days ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

Slightly ironic then, that the name Ross has largely Scottish origins…

rchrd 3007
rchrd 3007
28 days ago
Reply to  Lancashire Lad

A Highland vs Lowland sort of thing perhaps?

Lancashire Lad
Lancashire Lad
28 days ago
Reply to  rchrd 3007

Och aye.

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle
28 days ago
Reply to  rchrd 3007

That only exits due to English Imperialism and on the principle of divide and rule
Which in most Nations formerly of The Empire has resulted in many wars and conflicts
You make a mess as you governed and bloody well made sure a even bigger mess when you were forced to depart before you would have to ran away with your tail between your legs

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
28 days ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

A lot of this woke rubbish is concentrated in Scotland’s overgrown higher education establishments (which have increasingly fewer Scots as a proportion of students or employees) and its bloated public sector. Step outside of that and nobody give’s a monkey’s.