You can ask Edward the First what happens when you mess with the Scots. When he marched his troops northward, meeting Scottish warriors led by men like William Wallace and Simon Fraser, he learned exactly how hard the Scottish will fight to protect their land from interlopers. Well, now Donald Trump has learned that lesson, too.





Independent director Anthony Baxter has committed the battles to film in You’ve Been Trumped. The documentary chronicles the year-long construction of Trump’s first golf course in the Aberdeen area (he plans on building more), providing a more balanced view of the conflict than the mainstream media has done. Baxter says that he noticed skewed reporting:

“The media coverage around the golf course didn’t have the skeptical angle you’d expect, which seemed very odd.”

So he decided he would provide the opposing view of the Scots who live in the area. An area that has been designated as a “Site of Special Scientific Interest.” The golf course is built on a stretch of 4000-year-old coastal sand dunes, which were supposed to be protected. But money talks, and despite warnings from the Scottish Natural Heritage and his own ecologists that the construction would be destructive to the site, Trump was allowed to build his Trump International Golf Links course. Have you noticed that he’s so insecure that he feels the need to name everything after himself?

Baxter’s film, which has no narrator, lets the Aberdeenshire farmers and others of the area tell their stories. It paints a picture of the stubborn Scots fighting a monolithic corporate entity that was unafraid to harass, lie and threaten. Trump even cut off the water to their homes. He carried his strong-arm tactics into the Scottish governments’ plan to build a wind farm off of the coast. He lost that battle.

Trump told the BBC that the turbines were, “the destruction of Aberdeen and Scotland itself,” and proceeded to issue lawsuit threats. With the approval of the wind farm, we wait breathlessly to see if The Donald will keep his promise to scrap plans for his luxury resort because the turbines might spoil the view.

Though the documentary wrapped in 2010, the battles continue. Now that the world is watching, Trump might want to back off, though. With heightened scrutiny, he might not be able to coerce whoever it was he convinced in the government to allow construction of the first golf course. Already, the Scots who opposed – and continue to oppose – Trump are being recognized. The Scotsman newspaper named local farmer Michael Forbes the Scotsman of the Year. Trump had offered the Scot almost $1 million for his 23-acre farm but the proud Scot told The Donald to take his “…puffy pelt and perma-tan back across the pond.” Forbes said he disliked Trump from the start:

“He was being all nicey nicey, and talking about how successful he was and how much money he had,” Forbes said. “That was it for me. I took an instant dislike to him. He called me a village idiot and accused me of living in a pigsty but I think everyone knows by now that he’s the clown of New York. I’m still (farming) but have had to stop salmon fishing as I don’t have direct access to the beach anymore, but there’s no way I’ll ever sell up to Trump.” (source)

Anthony Baxter didn’t escape from the fracas unscathed. When the BBC said that it would air his documentary, Trump took to Twitter to disparage the film maker and Forbes, calling them, “Morons.” Well gosh, Don, you’d sure know about morons. After all, you did attend CPAC and the RNC. But Baxter gets the last laugh as his movie has received awards and accolades, encouraging the director.

“It’s made me more committed to trying to get to the truth. It just goes to show that you’ve got to make the film you want to make and follow your heart in telling a story. And by doing that, you will win through in the end.” (source)

There have been many stories told of the valiant and stubborn Scots. From William Wallace to Princess Merida, the Scots have rightly been portrayed as brave and intractable inhabitants of Caledonia who will fight to the death to preserve their land and way of life. Donald Trump is only the latest arrogant invader to feel the sting of their tongues. He’s just lucky that’s all they used this time.

T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…