US President Donald Trump last month returned to Scotland, a country he often references as part of his family heritage. But the island village where his mother was born has long held mixed feelings about the president
Last month, US President Donald Trump returned to a nation he frequently cites as part of his family roots – Scotland. And there’s one tiny village that is particularly significant to the 79-year-old.
During the visit, which ran from July 25 until Tuesday, July 29, the President visited both of his Scottish golf courses, Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire and the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, and held talks in Aberdeen with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.
Trump has consistently highlighted his deep personal ties to Scotland through his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis in the breathtaking Outer Hebrides.
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According to VisitScotland: “With dramatic landscapes, a unique Gaelic culture and fascinating history, Lewis and Harris are a great place to start your Hebridean adventure. You will be blown away by wild mountains, immense white beaches, rugged coastlines and lunar landscapes.”
Like countless Scots in the early 20th century, Mary Anne emigrated to America seeking greater prospects, reports the Daily Record. Born in 1912 in the village of Tong, roughly three miles from Stornoway, she departed the island at the age of 18 to seek employment as a domestic servant in New York.
In 1936, she married Frederick Trump, a prosperous property magnate and the son of German immigrants. The pair had five children together, with President Trump—known locally as Donald John—being their fourth child.
Mary Anne gained American citizenship in 1942 and passed away in 2000 at the age of 88. Despite his regular mentions of his Scottish heritage, the president hasn’t always received a warm welcome from inhabitants of his mother’s birthplace.
Her relatives came from the surrounding region, with the MacLeods on her paternal side hailing from Vatisker, situated just north of Tong. Tong itself boasts a distinctive heritage of political and cultural identity.
From 1919 to 1921, the village, alongside neighbouring Coll and Gress, witnessed a sequence of land raids where local men confronted absent landowners by sowing crops and splitting sheep-grazing properties into agricultural plots.
Tong’s inhabitants were considered amongst the island’s most radical. In a 1990s compilation of the Stornoway dialect, Tong’s residents were still dubbed “Bolshiveeks.”
Village folk in Tong have previously expressed annoyance over Trump’s absence of backing for the community, drawing comparisons with his sister’s and mother’s contributions.
“He never gave a penny,” residents have previously remarked, highlighting that Mary Anne MacLeod Trump helped finance the village hall’s construction during the 1970s. His elder sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, also made a significant donation of £155,000 to a local care home and the Bethesda hospice.
Locals have claimed that the president is “feeding off” the legacy of his mother and sister without giving back to the island that shaped their early years.
Tong remains a traditional crofting village, located about four miles northeast of Stornoway. Crofting, weaving of Harris Tweed, and peat cutting are still part of daily life on the island.
The area is also renowned for hosting the annual Lewis Highland Games and the Western Isles Strongman competition. Historically, Lewis was part of Norway until the 13th century, and by the 1800s, Tong’s economy relied heavily on fishing, farming and weaving.
However, widespread land clearances in the late 19th century saw many tenants displaced in favour of large-scale sheep farms and deer forests.
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