Donald Trump harangued the former first minister of Scotland as “Mad Alex” and accused him of being on a “march to oblivion” in a series of increasingly angry and eccentric letters about windfarms he claimed were blighting his Scottish golf courses.
The correspondence with Alex Salmond, revealed by the Huffington Post after a freedom of information request, demonstrated that Trump’s tone swung wildly between coaxing and threatening as he grew increasingly frustrated with his former ally’s refusal to change his policy on renewable energy.
Trump warned Salmond that his dream of Scottish independence would be “gone with the wind” if he continued to support windfarm developments, accusing the then leader of the Scottish National party of being “hellbent” on damaging Scotland’s coastline.
In 16 published letters, only one of which Salmond replied to, Trump went on to insist that his own motives were to “save Scotland” and “honour my mother”, who was born on the Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the US in her early 20s.
Referring to windfarms as “monsters”, the series of letters suggests Salmond “let them ruin the coastline of Sweden first”, declaring that “wind power doesn’t work” and warning him that “your economy will become a third world wasteland that investors will avoid”.
Trump has been involved in a long-running conflict with the Scottish government over the impact of windfarms on his Scottish golf courses. Salmond supported Trump’s £750m development of the Menie golf resort in Aberdeenshire after planning permission was refused by Aberdeenshire council because of the potential impact on a legally protected coastal nature reserve.
But the pair fell out after Trump lodged repeated legal challenges to an offshore windfarm being built in the North Sea, several miles off the Aberdeenshire links course and backed by Salmond.
Last December, Trump lost his appeal against the turbines at the supreme court. It prompted an extraordinary war of words between the billionaire and Salmond, who said Trump was “three times a loser”, while the Trump Organisation hit back at the former SNP leader as a “has-been”.
A spokesperson for Salmond confirmed on Wednesday that the communications were genuine, adding: “They show a Scottish first minister steadfastly refusing to bow to extreme pressure from Mr Trump in opposition to wind energy.
“We can only hope that the responsibilities of office change a man and that the president-elect comes to see the benefits of renewable energy, not only to the environment but to local businesses and communities.”
The letters, dated from September 2011 to June 2013, show the billionaire fulminating at the consequences of windfarm development, as well as displaying a rather partial grasp of Scottish history: “The people of Scotland will forever suffer! With the reckless installation of these monsters, you will single-handedly have done more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scottish history!”
“You seem hellbent on destroying Scotland’s coastline and therefore Scotland itself,” he wrote on 9 February 2012. “But I will never be ‘on board’, as you have stated I would be, with this insanity. As a matter of fact, I have just authorised my staff to allocate a substantial amount of money to launch an international campaign to fight your plan to surround Scotland’s coast with many thousands of wind turbines – it will be like looking through the bars of a prison and the Scottish citizens will be the prisoners!”
In another epistle, this time addressed to Philip Hammond, Trump thanked the then defence secretary for “your ongoing objection to these horrendous machines that will ruin Scotland and compromise the United Kingdom’s air defence program”. He concluded: “The defence of the UK is far too important to tinker with just to satisfy Alex Salmond’s bloated ego.”
Earlier this year, Salmond urged Americans not to vote for Trump, claiming he had a “bullying” nature that made him unfit to be US president, and revealing for the first time what he described as “green ink” letters that were sent by courier across the Atlantic.
Trump’s business interests span the globe and entangle him with numerous foreign governments but he has refused to release his tax returns to give a clearer picture.
Last month, he used a meeting with the former Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, and other Brexit supporters to encourage them to oppose windfarms that he argued would spoil the view from one of his golf courses in Scotland.
At another meeting with Silicon Valley tech leaders at Trump Tower, three of his children, who will manage his companies during his time in office, were present, while Trump-branded water was served.
Trump also met his Indian business partners and posed for pictures with them while the Philippines government announced it was appointing his business partner in Manila as its next ambassador to Washington.
A day after he spoke to Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, Trump’s Argentinian associate confidently predicted that construction would start next year on the planned Trump Tower Buenos Aires, despite zoning restrictions that have held it back.
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