Zack Polanski has been branded an ‘imbecile’ after calling for Donald Trump to be ‘kicked out’ of his Scottish golf courses as a ‘sanction’ for waging the Iran War. The leader of the Greens south of the Border said Menie, in Aberdeenshire, and Trump Turnberry, in Ayrshire, should be seized and ‘brought into community ownership’.
The move would almost certainly trigger a transatlantic diplomatic row. Sarah Malone, executive vice president, Trump International Scotland, said: ‘The comments in relation to our golf courses in Scotland are frankly ludicrous and ignorant and made by a man who is an imbecile.’
Mr Polanski, a former hypnotherapist turned ‘eco-socialist’, floated the idea at a Holyrood election press conference in Glasgow alongside the leaders of the Scottish Greens. He said: ‘I’d really like to see Donald Trump kicked out of his golf courses. I don’t think he should be able to start illegal and unpopular wars and still have golf courses. And I’d love to see those golf courses brought into community ownership. I definitely haven’t come to tell Scotland what to do, but it seems outrageous that Donald Trump’s still able to enjoy those golf courses.’
Asked about possible legal problems, he said: ‘I think more problematic is a genocide in Gaza and killing innocent people in Lebanon and in Iran. We’ve talked for a long time about sanctions that the UK Government should be putting on Israel, but frankly, I think there’s places where we should be sanctioning Donald Trump, where it’s possible, and I think very likely, he’s committing war crimes. And I think removing him from the golf course feels like the very least we could do.’
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer added: ‘We literally have obligations, like every other member state does that signed up to the [UN] Genocide Convention. We have obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide and to take action against those who perpetrate it.’
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: ‘This is typical student-politics posturing from the Greens. They should grow up and focus on issues that matter to hard-pressed Scots.’
Mr Polanski also urged the Scottish Greens to woo Reform UK supporters. He said: ‘The people who are thinking about voting for Reform are actually the exact people we should be reaching out to. They’re the people who recognise it’s a Westminster Government who have been screwing people over in Scotland and not treating them with dignity.’ He said the Greens remained ‘unapologetic’ on gay and trans rights and ‘solidarity with migrants’ and claimed some Reform voters were simply bigoted.
Reform candidate Thomas Kerr said: ‘The only thing he’s done on his visit is make himself look like a bigger boob.’
