You’ve Been Trumped
Directed by Anthony Baxter (2012)
Film Review
You’ve Been Trumped is about a group of Scottish farmers battling Donald Trump’s bid to destroy one of Britain’s last pristine wilderness areas. Why? To build a golf course for jet-setting millionaires and billionaires.
The documentary, originally filmed in 2011, has been re-released in honor of Trump’s presidential ambitions. It’s been taken down from YouTube owing to its commercial re-launch. Maori TV, our best political documentary channel, showed it this past week.
In 2007, Aberdeenshire Council denied Trump planning permission for the gold course. Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond overruled them, as well as giving the go-head for compulsory purchase orders (which would force local residents to see their farms to Trump).
You’ve Been Trumped differs from Baxter’s 2015 sequel Dark Side of the Greens in its greater focus on the careful and sustained campaign of local citizens who opposed Trump’s development plans. Although the first golf course ultimately went ahead, activists successfully blocked the second. They also blocked the CPOs (compulsory purchase orders) and Trump’s bid to have an offshore wind farm dismantled. He claimed it ruined the view from his luxury time shares.
In addition to featuring more footage of Donald Trump Jr (who turns out to be every bit as obnoxious as his father), the first film also highlights Trumps criminal behavior behavior during the construction process. In addition to illegally annexing land belonging to local farmers, Trump construction crews also cut off the spring that supplied their water. Interfering with a household water service is illegal under British law.
A particular highlight of You’ve Been Trumped is a scene of the filmmakers beings assaulted, handcuffed and jailed for supporting the local residents’ cause.
The full film can’t be embedded but can be viewed at the Maori TV website for the next few weeks: Maori TV
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