Donald Trump gives a speech at his revamped Trump Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, watched by (right to left) his daughter Ivanka and sons Donald Jr and Eric. Andrew Milligan / PA Wire/PA Images
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A row has erupted between two rival Facebook groups from Donald Trump’s ancestral home on a remote Scottish island about whether or not the local lad is fit to be president.
Trump’s mother, Mary MacLeod, grew up in the tiny town of Tong – which has a current population of 527 people – on the Isle of Lewis to the far west of the Scottish mainland, before emigrating to New York as a teenager in the late 1920s.
Nearly 90 years later, folk from the island are arguing on Facebook over whether Trump should become president in next week’s US election after a Lewis local called Derick Mackenzie set up a pro-Trump community page.
Mackenzie, admin of the “Isle of Lewis supports Trump for president” page, writes on it: “We would like to see Donald Trump become president of the USA because he says what he thinks, shoots from the hip, doesn’t mince his words and his mother came from Lewis.”
Since July of last year, Mackenzie has amassed 126 likes by posting a series of pro-Trump memes and conspiracy theories about “crooked Hillary” and her health, and comparing Trump to none other than Jesus Christ.
However, Mackenzie’s page has attracted fury from fellow islanders who say he doesn’t speak for Lewis. A rival page was set up named “Isle of Lewis DOES NOT support Trump For President” which gained an even more impressive 715 likes.
The comment sections of both pages are filled with pro- and anti- Trump arguments from islanders with one calling Mackenzie “a disgrace to the island”, and another saying: “No Lewis person would support that numpty.”
Another commenter told Mackenzie: “You have no right to say Isle of Lewis supports that man. You should be ashamed of yourself taking the opinion that this beautiful island could support such an idiot.”
One of the contributors to the anti-Trump page told BuzzFeed News the “overwhelming view” on the island is against him despite his heritage. Local journalist Katie Laing said “hell would freeze over” before Lewis will feel any sense of pride about Trump.
“At the beginning, when [Trump] emerged as a contender, the island’s feeling was mainly one of bemusement and maybe a very slight grudging admiration that he had done ‘so well for himself’,” said Laing.
“But there has always been a sense of shame at his crass and vulgar personality, although really we have nothing to be ashamed of, as he doesn’t represent us in any way – his personality couldn’t be any less Hebridean.”
She added: “Like most right-thinking people across the world, we will be very apprehensive, and indeed frightened, about what the future holds if he gets into the White House.”
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Mackenzie, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, hit back at the criticism his pro-Trump page was getting in a Facebook post, saying “poor, simple, gullible fools” were directing “pea-brained insults” at Trump.
“It’s not as if any of them has provided one single solitary reason or example of what exactly makes [Trump] such a monster,” he wrote. “But then, let’s not forget: demonization is the desperate resort of fools that have no argument.”
Whatever happens in the election next Tuesday, Trump is likely to continue dividing opinion in his ancestral homeland. According to Laing, islanders are more fond of his sister, Maryanne, who is a benefactor to a local care home.
Asked if Donald Trump would be welcome back to Lewis after the election, Laing said: “Hebrideans are an extremely welcoming people, famous for our friendliness, and our doors are always open. But no.”
