Links House proprietor and Coul Links co-developer Todd Warnock has presented a very sensitive plan for land near Royal Dornoch. He's also done some incredible things for the Dornoch community, where he now lives. 
Those accomplishments include the refurbishment of Links House into arguably golf's best hotel, fighting to prevent closure of the Highland Council service point, co-authoring a wonderful book of writings by Dornoch’s John Sutherland and most noticeable of all, turning the deteriorating Dornoch Courthouse into home of four successful businesses employing over 30 people.
But the project, to be designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and produced with developer Mike Keiser, continues to be met with strong resistance. Warnock, writing a guest piece for The Scotsman, makes the case that most Coul Links resistance is Donald Trump-related.
I should say that I have never worked with, supported or agreed with Trump. I could never give my backing to his policies or actions. Yet my partners and I find ourselves described as “peas in a pod” with Trump by a Scottish MSP, John Finnie. He has never met me, my partners or responded to my calls, yet he seems content to use Trump as a stick to tar me with, regardless of my actual beliefs.
I’ve also noticed this approach has been taken up at an organisational level. RSPB Scotland and SWT, for example, continue to focus on my nationality rather than the environmental facts of our strategy. They ignore the substantial environmentalist accomplishments of Mike Keiser and I while taking every opportunity to simply label us as “American millionaires”. In my view, they are endeavouring to whip up anti-American feeling – just go read some of the objections to our proposal on the Highland Council website. This is not unlike the way the Trump singles people out by their nationality or belittles their intentions. Similarly, the small group of locals self-named “Not Coul” try to paste the Trump scarlet letter upon us. A sensationalist video features Trump more than it does me or my partners.