WE all like to brighten up our workspaces a little with a few personal touches.
Some of us have pictures of our families, once-in-a-lifetime holidays we took, or our pets that one time they were good enough to have stayed still for a photograph.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser has a handwritten and signed note from former US president Donald Trump.
We’re not joking.
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Above a picture of a baby, and another of his beloved and often-tweeted-about car, Fraser has a document with the distinctive scrawl of the disgraced US president.
In thick black marker, as is his customary style, Trump has written a personalised note to the Tory MSP which we can’t quite make out.
From what we can read, it says:
"[Mur]do - appreciate the ??? the committee ??? it is a very important ??? ??? ??? best wishes, [Donald Trump's signature]"
For comparison, here’s the note, which was spotted by eagle-eyed viewers in the top left of Fraser’s screen on the BBC’s The Nine.
And here’s Donald Trump himself showing off his signature on an executive order last year.
There is little doubt that they are the same signature. So what about the note itself?
This is speculation, but the word “committee” may be in reference to an appearance Trump made at Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee to argue against wind farms.
The only trouble is that committee, of which Fraser was the convener, met in March 2012. Back then, he even tweeted that he was “looking forward" to it.
As Convenor of the Economy Energy & Tourism Committee, I am looking forward to meeting Donald Trump at Holyrood to discuss wind turbines.
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) March 7, 2012
Fraser wouldn’t have kept Donald Trump’s signature on his wall for nine years, would he? Even if he wasn't voted president until 2016.
He wouldn't have kept it on the wall through both of Trump's impeachment trials, not to mention the storming of the Capitol building, would he?
He wouldn't have kept it up there when Trump said there were "fine people on both sides", when one side was a neo-Nazi march, would he?
The revelation is even more bizarre given Fraser’s liberal usage of the word “Trump” as an insult to attack his political opponents.
Here he is using it to attack Michael Russell:
Just when you think we’ve see the back of Trump-style politics... https://t.co/Shr74VWYYR
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) February 4, 2021
Here he is using it to attack Alex Salmond:
So this is where Trump learned it from https://t.co/13RBPhyBmn
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) March 19, 2017
Here he is using it to attack Nicola Sturgeon:
Jenny is absolutely right here. Trump has clearly been studying the Sturgeon debate style. https://t.co/2jOhuIn5ZE
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) September 30, 2020
And there are plenty more examples. But perhaps we misunderstood.
Given the fact that Fraser presumably had Trump’s signed "best wishes" gazing down on him as he wrote all of those tweets, perhaps they were meant as compliments.
This opens up some awkward questions for Fraser.
Would you keep a handwritten note from someone you didn’t admire? Would you hang it on your wall?
A Scottish Tory spokesperson said: “This is nothing more than a bit of political memorabilia from a memorable Scottish Parliament committee meeting, and we’re sure Murdo Fraser MSP would be happy to also put up the First Minister’s resignation letter next to it after her more forgettable, or should that be forgetful, Scottish Parliament committee session, where she told as many truths as Donald Trump.”
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