'She fought me all the way': Donald Trump rages at Scotland's retiring first minister

15 February 2023

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, announced on Wednesday that she will be stepping down as soon as a replacement is elected due to the "brutality" of working in politics and a desire to focus on "Nicola Sturgeon the person."

Sturgeon's tenure began in 2014 as the movement for independence from Great Britain gained steam.

"She became leader of the SNP in the wake of a 2014 independence referendum when Scotland voted 55% to 45% to remain part of the United Kingdom," Reuters noted.

Even though she is leaving, Sturgeon still believes in the cause.

"To achieve that, we must reach across the divide in Scottish politics," she said, per Reuters. "And my judgement now is that a new leader will be better able to do this. Someone about whom the mind of almost everyone in the country is not already made up for better or worse."

While not a household name in the United States, Sturgeon's antipathy toward former President Donald Trump – who owns two golf clubs in Scotland – did generate headlines.

In January 2021, Sturgeon declared that Trump was unwelcome as COVID-19 raged and amid Trump's attempts to subvert his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

"We are not allowing people to come into Scotland without an essential purpose right now, and that would apply to [Trump], just as it applies to anybody else," Sturgeon said.

Ten days before she was reelected that April, Sturgeon penned an editorial in The Guardian regarding independence, warning that the British government "ignoring the will of the Scots would be an act worthy of Trump."

A month later, Forbes reported that there were widespread suspicions about how Trump paid for his resort in Turnberry but that Sturgeon's administration lacked the necessary legal authority to take meaningful action:

Trump brought Turnberry for $60 million in 2014, but neither it nor Trump's Aberdeen golf course has ever turned a profit, according to accounts filed with the U.K.'s Companies House. This leads to speculation over why Trump purchased and developed the two loss-making businesses.

Human rights group Avaaz filed a challenge to Sturgeon's determination, arguing that she had a "duty" to investigate Trump's finances.

As Forbes further pointed out:

In a 30-page document published in 2019, Avaaz says the purchase of Turnberry was itself suspicious. 'Trump acquired Turnberry golf course in April 2014 at the end of an unusual 'cash buying spree' of five houses, eight golf courses, and a winery totaling over $400 million,' the document says.

Not only were many of the transactions made in 'locations highly conducive to money laundering such as Panama and the former Soviet Union,' but the buying spree took place during a period in which Trump's businesses suffered 'serious financial difficulties and defaults,' says the document.

In May 2022, Sturgeon also weighed in on the 2024 presidential contest, telling Americans, "don't re-elect Trump at any point."

Following the news of Sturgeon's impending departure, Trump took to his Truth Social app to disparage her.

"Good riddance to failed woke extremist Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland! This crazed leftist symbolizes everything wrong with identity politics. Sturgeon thought it was OK to put a biological man in a women's prison, and if that wasn't bad enough, Sturgeon fought for a 'Gender Recognition Reform Bill' that would have allowed 16-year-old children to change their gender without medical advice," Trump wrote.

"I built the greatest Golf properties in the World in Scotland, but she fought me all the way, making my job much more difficult," Trump added. "The wonderful people of Scotland are much better off without Sturgeon in office!"

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