Opinion Real Estate On the 19th hole with Trump and Damac What better place than Trump International Golf Course to watch the inauguration By Frank Kane January 17, 2025, 3:16 PM Frank Kane The Damac developed Trump International Golf Course. Damac’s founder Hussain Sajwani has emerged from the 2024 election as one of Trump’s favourite Arabs For those who want to watch a slice of history next Monday evening – the inauguration of President Donald Trump for his second term at the White House – there is no better place than the clubhouse of the Trump International Golf Course in Damac Hills. I went there this week to see what the MAGAverse will enjoy on its big night, and can report that the venue – in the Dubai residential hinterland just past Studio City – is the perfect place to enjoy a Trumpburger and Coke while watching the runaway winner of the 2025 US election formally take the oath of office. It will be historic for a couple of reasons. For one, it is the first time in 132 years that a defeated candidate has come back from an election defeat to win a second term. But, more ominously, it is the first time, in my memory, that a president has been elected on such a programme of retribution and revenge against his opponents. Forget the lofty message “ask not what your country can do for you” of John F Kennedy, and expect instead a rant about rooting out “the enemy from within”. Reversing the wording of the 1865 inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln (to whom Trump sometimes and outrageously compares himself), we could get “with malice toward all, and charity for none”. The abiding phrase from Trump’s first inauguration was “American carnage”, but he has already gone further on the campaign trail with “American garbage”, so let’s see how he can top that. Whoops, I feel I am letting my objectivity slip a tad, so let’s get back to the clubhouse. Golf is not my thing, but I have a fondness for golf clubhouses, and regularly use the Montgomery and Emirates venues for business meetings or R&R. Golfing pals tell me the Trump course is in the top five in Dubai. I was there on a not-especially hectic Thursday evening, but it was doing steady business. There was one big table of corporate types who must have just had a golfing day, bonding over beers and burgers, and quite a few smaller huddles just enjoying the cool evening and the misty view through the sprinklers of the floodlit greens. I had an excellent Virgin Mary (my go-to beverage during Dry January) and followed it with a Trumpburger – Angus beef, cheddar, beef bacon, avocado, pickles, jalapenos and Marie Rose sauce. You could tell it was a Trumpburger because it had “Trump” burned into the bun. The eponymous Trumpburger in all its glory The meal was ok – fairly standard burger fare – but the highlight was a New York cheesecake that was pretty close to the real thing, as served in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. The service was excellent, and the staff were obviously looking forward to inauguration day, recalling the fantastic turnout and atmosphere on the morning of November 6 as it became obvious their man had won. Apart from the bun-branding and the blingy neon Trump sign that greets you at the entrance, there was little sign of its patron. There was the ubiquitous triptych of leaders of the UAE, but none of the President-elect. Maybe that will change for inauguration day. Another reason to watch the inauguration at the clubhouse is that the whole development is a Damac project. Damac’s founder Hussain Sajwani has emerged from the 2024 election as Trump’s favourite Arab – apart from some rulers, crown princes and presidents, perhaps. Trump recently called Sajwani a “great investor” at an event in his Mar A Lago HQ in Florida, where the Emirati pledged to put $20 billion into US data centres over the next four years, a plan the Financial Times delicately called “aspirational” in a recent article about the “Donald of Dubai“. Damac had only a quarter of that amount in cash on its balance sheet as of last June, and Sajwani told the FT he expected the balance to be largely made up of bank loans. That’s a currency the real Donald understands very well. Damac and Trump have known each other since 2011, when they announced plans to build the golf course and residential development surrounding it. Donald and his family have made several visits to the UAE since, and Sajwani (with family members) was a relatively frequent visitor to Washington during the first presidency. DC people say it is possible Trump will make an early visit to the Middle East, including the UAE, as 47th president, perhaps checking out the other regional projects the family has on the go with Dar Global, the Saudi-based, London-listed developer rival to Damac. Frank Kane is Editor-at-Large of AGBI and an award-winning business journalist. He acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia Read more from Frank Kane He came in like a wrecking ball but how will oil markets react? Despite ‘greenlash’, UAE banks will stick to net zero commitment Riyadh seeks to become ‘rule shaper, not rule taker’ in mining