Trump's Whiskey War
1st step: Trump's declaration of war
No less than a "war against one of the world's largest whiskey producers" Donald Trump started there, wrote the "Guardian" on December 5, 2012. After all: At that time, the US entrepreneur was not yet commander-in-chief of the army of the most powerful nation on the planet. A use of tanks and hydrogen bombs had the Scottish manufacturer of Glenfiddich, which claims to be "most awarded single malt whiskey in the world", so not to be feared.
On the other hand, he says, "I am calling for a boycott of Glenfiddich products," Trump declared. "Glenfiddich should be ashamed," he etched, the whiskey brand had brought "horrific embarrassment" over Scotland. Therefore, he also had every whiskey brand of Glenfiddich manufacturer William Grant & Sons banished from his hotels. He even made a vow "that no trump company will ever do business with Glenfiddich or Grant & Sons." His anger has apparently accompanied Trump to his post as US President: His government had in October 2019 in the US imported single malt whiskeys from Scotland with a penalty of 25 percent.
In December 2012, Trump still earned his money with hotels, real estate, as moderator of the reality show "The Apprentice" and with the licensing of his name for suits, computer games, mineral water - or Trump single malt Scotch whiskey. The Glenfiddich manufacturer Grant & Sons was thus a competitor (and according to Trump's assessment jealous of his own brand of whiskey). But the anger of the US billionaire had another reason: the annual ...
Step 2: Pigs and Scots
... award the title "Top Scot" to the most popular Scots. Participation in the voting was open to all Scottish citizens. However, the "Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards" was sponsored by William Grant & Sons. And Donald Trump had significant problems with the winner in 2012: a farmer (and occasional salmon fisherman) named Michael Forbes . Trump even cursed him for running cameras as a "pig". Forbes, on the other hand, did not allow himself to be further impressed and offered his brow to Trump - which earned him sympathy from many compatriots. From Trump's perspective, Michael Forbes threatened the ambitious plan ...
3rd step: A bat type bulldozer through
... to build a golf course north of Aberdeen, directly on the Scottish North Sea coast. Of course, not just any, but the best golf course in the world . Contrary to all objections by conservationists, Donald Trump had bought a disused shooting range in a nature reserve in 2006 and had bulldozers come up to make space between the dunes. The result was a six-square-kilometer golf resort with a huge golf course for international guests, a five-star hotel with 450 rooms, 950 luxury apartments plus a clubhouse full of Trump devotional items, all with stunning views over the sea.
His mega-project, Trump promised the Scots, would boost tourism, create 6,000 jobs and bring £ 1bn of new investment into Aberdeenshire. Forbes, however, saw the future US president endangered the success because he had ...
4th step: dandruff in front of the eyes
... built a corrugated iron shed not far from the planned hotel location, in front of which agricultural equipment was stored. Sometimes Forbes drove there with his rusty old tractor. Donald Trump did not want to tolerate this view from the luxury resort: a "pigsty" was the property, he railed against his Scottish neighbors and offered him a stately £ 450,000 to buy.
Forbes, however, vehemently refused. Thus, the run-down shed of the steadfast peasant became the symbol of Scottish resistance to Trump's construction project. Soon, someone sprayed "NO GOLF COURSE" on corrugated iron in large, widely legible letters. And underneath "NO MORE TRUMP LIES". Someone put up a meter high portrait: Forbes with traditional Scottish hat, the Balmoral bonnet , clenched his fist, on his knuckles the word "STOP".
But the corrugated iron shed, which became such an anti-Trump shrine, could never have been, if it had not ...
Desperately wanted: fifth, sixth and seventh step!
... given a development or invention that made the dandruff of contention possible. But which?
And now you come: yet the seven steps are incomplete. We seek to continue the story with one, two, three as surprising shoots as they actually took place, and are indirectly related to Trump's Whiskey War and golf course plans. Maybe it was a person, a company, a group without which there would never have been this development. Or a historical twist, a construction project, a political movement.
Find out! Send us your suggestions for a fifth, sixth and seventh step until 8.12.2019 to the email address siebenschritte@spiegel.de. Among all entries we are giving away 15 copies of the book "How Hitler invented the skateboard: In seven steps through world history".
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07.11.2019, 09:43 clock
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Danny Kringiel
How Hitler invented the skateboard: in seven steps through world history
Publishing company:
KiWi Paperback
Pages:
320
Price:
EUR 11,00
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