Side Note

Trump hates orange soda

Jimmy Carter, as you may or may not know, was a peanut farmer before becoming president of these United States. Upon becoming president, Carter put his farm into an independent trust, presumably so there wouldn’t be any conflicts of interest with his administration. All of this is to say that Donald J. Trump, current president of these United States, did not go to the same lengths to prevent conflicts of interests with his many businesses. (He did put the Trump Organization into a trust, but it’s partly controlled by his eldest son Donald Jr., and Trump can withdraw money from it at any time.) One such Trump business just pissed off the entire nation of Scotland by banning the country’s most popular non-alcoholic drink from being consumed on its grounds, as first reported by the Ayrshire Post.

Some background here: Trump has a golf resort in Scotland called the Trump Turnberry, because of course he does. The hotel recently banned a soda called Irn-Bru, because its orange color could stain the hotel’s very expensive carpets. It’s worth noting that they still serve Coca-Cola, a beverage the president drinks literally every day despite its ability to stain carpets. Naturally, Scottish people are not happy. It remains to be seen if the president — for the love of soda, and also because he may still be able to influence business decisions at Trump properties — will intervene behind the scenes so wealthy Scottish golfers can have their Irn-Bru.