Trump was made a business ambassador by Jack McConnell in 2006 and awarded an honorary degree by Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University four years later.
All of these can be easily justified by the need to do business with powerful business and political leaders.
And there are those today advocating for better relations with Donald Trump.
Writing in The Times newspaper, external ahead of the recent UK-US trade deal, the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar argued: “President Trump’s affinity for Scotland is real, regardless of what people think of his politics.
“His family’s investments in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire are real and significant. They have created jobs, attracted tourism, and demonstrated that Scotland remains an attractive destination for global investment.
“I am sure at times they have felt frustrated at doing business in Scotland, but the potential benefits of having the president of the United States as an advocate for others to invest in Scotland should be obvious.”
But many at the top of Scottish politics turned away from Trump years before he won the 2016 election.
In 2012, he travelled to the Scottish Parliament to argue against a wind farm being built in the North Sea, within sight of his development.
He went on to fight a court action against the plans. And when he lost, he turned his ire on Scotland’s politicians, especially ministers.
The man who had once called Salmond “a tremendous representative of the people of Scotland” who had done “a fantastic job”, now said, “You’re going to have riots all over Scotland, because Alex Salmond is going to destroy the natural beauty of Scotland”.