‘Feeling was mutual, Donnie’: Trans ally Nicola Sturgeon perfectly responds to Trump’s criticism

Trans ally Nicola Sturgeon has responded perfectly to US president Donald Trump’s recent derogatory comment about her. 

Sturgeon, who served as the first minister of Scotland from 2014 to 2023, responded to Trump’s criticism via her Instagram Story.

During his recent four-day trip to Scotland, the US president met current first minister John Swinney on Monday (28 July) at a private dinner. The following day they had a meeting. 

Following their time together, Donald Trump called Swinney a “terrific guy”, but he also used the opportunity to hit out at Nicola Sturgeon. 

He continued: “I didn’t have a lot of respect for the woman that preceded him. I thought she was terrible as a first minister of Scotland. But I think John is doing a very good job as first minister.”

‘Feeling was mutual, Donnie.’

Nicola Sturgeon shared a screenshot of a story covering his harsh comment and wrote in response: “Feeling was mutual, Donnie. Forever proud to represent all the things that offend your view of the world”.

She followed the story with another, joking: “PS I am RAGING that it’s too late to put Donald’s ‘endorsement’ on the front cover of my book. I suppose I’ll just have to wait for the paperback.” 

The former First Minister of Scotland’s autobiography, titled Frankly, is set to be released on 14 August.

According to the book’s synopsis, it will “recount her journey from working-class Ayrshire to the steps of Bute House” and “candidly recount her interactions with figures including Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and Alex Salmond – her mentor and, ultimately, her staunch adversary.”

Nicola Sturgeon’s long history of LGBTQ+ allyship

During her time as first minister, Sturgeon took action to improve LGBTQ+ lives. Sturgeon was first minister when Holyrood voted to legalise same-sex marriage in Scotland in 2014.

Writing in PinkNews at the time, she said she it was one of her proudest days. She was deputy first minister when Scotland introduced equal adoption rights in 2009.

Her attempts to improve trans rights are particularly notable. Nicola Sturgeon first committed to reforming gender recognition laws ahead of the 2016 Scottish election. The bill was passed in December 2022. Speaking in the Scottish parliament shortly beforehand, Sturgeon said it would make trans people’s lives “that little bit better and easier”.

She has continually spoken out in support of the trans community, and in May she told reporters at the Scottish parliament that she believed trans people’s lives in the UK were at risk of being made “unlivable” thanks to continued attacks on their rights. 

Sturgeon has also spoken out about the UK Supreme Court, which ruled in May 2025 that the definitions of “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological women only, stating that the ruling has been “massively over-interpreted.”

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