There is something a little sad about the non-relationship between Donald John Trump and Lewis. Despite his genetic proximity to the place, he has never shown the remotest interest in it; an attitude that has long since been reciprocated in full.

In other hands, it would be a classic story of the American dream: the son of a Hebridean migrant who goes on to become the President of the United States, not once but twice. What tale could be more inspiring? The only incurable problem is that the son in question is Donald J Trump.

And so it is that, as the son of a Lewis mother prepares to become the world’s most powerful man for the second time, there will be no glow of reflected island pride; no congratulatory messages from local dignitaries; mercifully, no attempt at Trump Trails. On past evidence, nobody will want to know.

Stornoway has recently become a major cruise ship destination and hence a brief port of call for far more American visitors. One of the drivers who takes them around the island enjoys making an unannounced detour to the village of Tong and only on arrival tells the reason – to point out the house that was home to Donald Trump’s mother. Whether they are pro- or anti-, their reaction is the same: surprise there is no signposting or advance notice of this landmark. That is unlikely to change!

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If Trump wasn’t Trump, it could have been different. The slightest semblance of respect for a mother’s story would have caused many blemishes to be overlooked, just like anywhere else. Instead, while the President past and future was given Hebridean names – Donald John/Dòmhnall Iain could not be more Lewis – that was where the synergy ended. Ireland would have been different. Generations of presidential hopefuls have scoured their genealogical roots, with any Irish community alighted upon only too happy to play the game. In the case of Trump and Lewis, there was no need for creative research. The relationship could not be closer or more transparent – and nobody wants to know, least of all Donald J Trump.

Scotland, more widely, has never had such a close blood relationship to an American president – or a less comfortable political one. His only interest in exploiting the Scottish side of his identity has arisen out of commercial interests in........

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