Trump Drowned Out by His Own Bagpiper at His Scotland Event
The president and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had their comments to the media almost drowned out by the musical stylings of a nearby piper.
Donald Trump encountered some difficulty during his comments to the media ahead of his meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, as the president’s own bagpiper played loudly through his opening statements.
Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
The president is meeting with his British counterpart at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland this morning, where the pair were expected to discuss a range of issues from trade to the war in Gaza. The piper had apparently been invited to play at Trump’s course as Starmer arrived—blasting out a performance close enough to the leaders to make it difficult to hear what they were saying to assembled reporters.
Trump spent the weekend golfing in Scotland ahead of a Sunday meeting with EU President Ursula von der Leyen and Monday's talk with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Phil Noble/REUTERS
After the noise eventually piped down, Trump appeared at pains to sing his own praises during what remained of his pre-talk press conference with Starmer. “If I weren’t around, right now you’d have six major wars going on,” he was finally heard to tell reporters.
“Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done,” the president went on. “We’ve done a lot. It’s an honor to do it. It’s not hard for me to do it.”
Trump’s self-administered pick-me-up follows a rocky weekend visit to the northernmost of the United Kingdom’s four nations. Though the president’s mother was born in Scotland, more than 70 percent of Scots have a dim view of his policies and politics, at a rate roughly 10 percent higher than across the U.K. overall.
Trump's time on the course has seen him ferried around in an armoured golf cart.
Getty Images
His arrival earlier on Friday was hardly met with a warm welcome. Heralded ahead of time by a front-page spread from Scottish daily newspaper The National that read “CONVICTED US FELON TO ARRIVE IN SCOTLAND,” protesters lined up along the side of the road as his motorcade made its way from Glasgow to his Turnberry resort, many of them holding up signs taking potshots at the president over the ongoing Epstein Files furor.
Demonstrations continued in at least three Scottish cities throughout the weekend, including outside the U.S. consulate in Edinburgh, as well as outside his Turnberry resort and Trump International Scotland in Aberdeen, where one protest group has installed a sign that reads: “Twinned with Epstein Island.”
Trump has spent much of his time in Scotland so far playing the green (accompanied by an armored golf cart), which would nevertheless appear to have done little to assuage his reported behind-the-scenes anger over his administration’s handling of the Epstein crisis—admitting to reporters Sunday, “I’m actually not in a good mood.”
Trump's new deal with the EU was almost immediately ripped as "odd" by the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board contends it basically "abandons" the president's trade goals.
Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS
Those comments came hot on the heels of a meeting with European Union President Ursula von der Leyen that yielded a new trade deal with the bloc, though the arrangement’s since been slammed by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board as “odd” for what the newspaper describes as mostly “abandoning [his] goals” in trade relations with the continent.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Unlock a year of full access to The Looker and The Daily Beast for $35.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Looker and The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Sign in
Login dialog