Colin Farquhar: Trump’s north-east links may make him ‘a Big Menie’ – but I’m fascinated by what his win means

Well, it’s now been a week since we woke up, bleary-eyed, to a slightly different world.

A new US President, one who just happens to be an old US President. One who happens to own a substantial swathe of the Aberdeenshire coastline, about a 20 minute drive from Aberdeen City Centre.

Donald Trump is relentlessly divisive, but, I think, perhaps seems to have been received more gently by the waiting world’s politicians, business leaders and certainly the population of the US, than when he last won in 2016. How things can change.

It might seem to be at a distance, but what goes on in US politics of course has reverberations further afield, including here.

It causes shifting sands in cultures away from American soil, with the dunes of the Menie Estate serving as a reminder of how close to home, literally and metaphorically, these things can become.

Trump is quite frankly not for me – I’m staggered that a convicted felon would be voted in as President – but I find the whole thing enduringly fascinating, and I struggle to look away.

Certainly, that is part of the reason he won. He absolutely dominates the media landscape, in a way that rival candidates simply cannot.

The local link(s) makes it all the more intriguing – ‘Aberdeenshire business owner wins Presidential election’ still raises a chuckle a second time around, even through the dread.

Renewed acceptance of how Trump talks boggles my mind

What typically boggles my mind is simply the renewed acceptance of how Trump talks. We live in an era of global businesses that take care to project professional environments and care for their employees, from the CEO down.

I work directly in a sector where diversity, transparency and equality are prized, as is environmental responsibility. Perhaps they are given more discussion in the arts than in the Fortune 500 companies, but Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Facebook’s Meta all, publically at least, aspire to be thought of as inspiring the same cultures.

Yet, Trump cuts across that completely – ‘The Big Menie’ might well be a good description – yet he is still considered to be a triumphantly successful business person, cast in the image of wealth from a very different era.

Ironically, the very character he presents might fit well with the American Titans who barrelled across the Atlantic in pursuit of the black gold of the North Sea back in the 70s. A man out of time, but who a significant portion of the English-speaking world, as well as the US electorate, can identify with. I’m left at a loss as to why.

‘You’re never going to be President of the United States by insulting your way to the Presidency’. Something Jeb Bush told Donald Trump during the Republican candidate debates leading up to the 2016 election. He now will be for a second time.

Someone who once one a ‘hair vs hair’ match has just won biggest popularity contest in politics

The immediate analysis will ask whether this represents a fundamental shift in Western society. A rejection of ‘wokeism’, whatever that wholly encapsulates. A victory for more polarising politics, that has left the centre-ground.

But consider the Government the UK has elected, which is pretty much straight down the middle. And had Harris won this election for the Democrats, the Republicans would be left scratching their heads about winning only one of the last six American races.

But, that is now a different reality; a sliding door – one where someone who once won a ‘Hair vs Hair’ match at Wrestlemania didn’t also just win the biggest popularity contest in Western politics.

So far the business community, primarily the billionaires of tech, have been congratulatory at the news.

The suggestion appears that this may be a unifying moment in politics, or good news for small businesses from a man who understands them. But, despite making gains in much of the electorate, including with many younger voters, Trump remains a hugely controversial figure, particularly with women and not without cause.

How does a man who leads in that way unify people? Surely it’s impossible. And, how does someone who intends to impose massive tariffs on any incoming trade represent a win for business? Economic protectionism typically goes against the grain of most financial commentators.

Perhaps, much like the wall which was never built, people simply expect it never to happen, which is the greatest perplexity of Trump altogether – how a man who his supporters see as someone who gets things done, is actually just all mouth and no action.

Meanwhile, on the Aberdeenshire coastline, a second course will open at Menie, not long after Trump is inaugurated for his second term. With it, perhaps a Presidential visit might be in the offing, as Trump comes ‘home’, bringing with him all the attention, and drama, of which he is King.

Colin Farquhar works as a creative spaces manager and film programmer in the north-east culture sector