“Now, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things out, we’ll take one too. And, it helps us out because … we have 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy top is astronomical. You wouldn’t even believe it. So, I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar; I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,’ but I thought it was a great gesture.”
President Trump on VIP Boeing 747-8 “Gift” from the Royal Family of Qatar
It’s no secret that the Department of Defence procurement project to replace the current pair of VC-25As (VIP military transports based on the older 747-200 airframe currently employed as “Air Force One” when the President is aboard) hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly.
There’s a phrase for it in military slang… 😉
To be fair, replacing what is arguably the world’s most famous head-of-state transport aircraft was never going to be easy as it’s not an off-the-shelf aircraft that the Pentagon could source from Boeing’s catalog.
The two 747-8i Intercontinental airframes formerly owned by defunct Russian airline Transaero (!) but never delivered were selected to undergo necessary modifications which involves adding classified secure comms systems and hardening them and the aircraft systems against a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that would fry electronics, adding an inflight-refueling system, and fitting the plane with defensive countermeasures.
The size of the documents containing unclassified specifications for Air Force One are impressive enough and you can probably triple the page count for the classified systems.
The project has been beset by delays which led President Trump to personally get involved in renegotiating the contract to a fixed-price contract during his first term which will likely save the taxpayers a pile of money because Boeing is on the hook for any cost overruns…and there have been plenty of those to go along with the delays and self-inflicted stupidity.
Had the original schedule been kept, he’d have likely been flying aboard the new VC-25Bs in his second term and he’s reported to be quite pissed that his pet project to replace the 40 year-old VC-25As has been beset by delays that threaten to ensure that they’re not delivered until after he’s out of office.
Enter those ever-so-helpful and friendly Qatar royals and their government who want to do their pal Donald Trump a solid by gifting him a $400M Boeing 747-8i Intercontinental that was kitted out to be a flying palace in the skies though reportedly without quite as much gold fixtures as the notoriously gold-obsessed President would like.
Never mind that Qatar is also quite cozy with Iran and their proxy terrorist group operating in Gaza and they’ve been shoveling money by the planeload to Tehran to shower upon Hamas. You know? The same bastards that brought the world October 7th and have provoked a response that has leveled Gaza where they ruled (not necessarily with support of the average resident in Gaza because they were given no choice in it and have paid for Hamas’ folly with their homes if not their lives). And lest we forget, that wonderful bastion of truth-telling otherwise known as a propaganda house called al Jazeera is based in Doha.
The political optics on this so-called “gift” is just plain brutal no matter which way you look at it.
Let’s start with the most glaring reason why President Trump accepting this gift (and/or Congress blessing such a gift) is an extraordinarily bad idea:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
United States Constitution — Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 “Emoluments Clause”
If we thought the known kompramat that gives Vladimir Putin and Russia so much power over Trump was bad, this sort of blatant bribe and the influence that would be exacted should it be accepted is absolutely unacceptable from a constitutional or moral point of view.
There’s just no way to see this as anything other than a blatant bribe that’s just as bad as the grift that Trump and his cronies are engaging in with their various illegal crypto-currency schemes allowing mostly foreign actors to dump massive amounts of cash into the President’s pockets with no oversight whatsoever.
When I was working for a contractor for IBM and we did a service call for the EPA in the Research Triangle Park, I wasn’t even allowed to offer (much less have my EPA contact accept!) me covering a $15 lunch due to ethics concerns and oversight. I can only imagine the coronary infarction they’d have suffered had I come bearing a $400M Boeing 747!
How’s that decision in Trump v United States 603 U.S. 593 (2024) that effectively has allowed the President to commit any crimes he wishes whilst in office and effectively bestowed the best benefit of being a king upon him working out for the American people?
He’s certainly fancies himself a king (and more recently an image surfaced of him sitting on the throne of St Peter dressed as the pope!) though sometimes it’s hard to tell if his guiding star is King Midas with his obsessive love of gold or King Lear with his generally tragic demeanour and descent into madness.
But even if Congress were to bless this gift (by no means guaranteed because there’s no way it stands on constitutional or ethical grounds), it’s unlikely he’d actually fly on that aircraft as Air Force One during this second term.
Even if we accept the White House’s “legal” premise for working around that pesky Constitution and knowing that paid lobbyist/stooge for Qatar in the person of Attorney General Pam Bondi would certainly look the other way even without the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, the whole “deal” just plain REEKS.
Trump’s idea is that the Qatar government would gift the plane to the United States Air Force for Trump to use as a substitute Air Force One and then when the VC-25Bs come online or his term ends, the ownership of Qatar Force One would be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation which means effectively he’d own the plane and almost certainly use it even after his term ends.
There’s no way in hell the US Air Force or the Secret Service would permit that without that plane being torn down to the rivets to ensure there aren’t any extra little features the Qataris failed to mention when they had the President touring this aircraft and likely drooling over the prospect of flying in it/owning it.
Features like listening devices and other massive security breaches that would make the ones we found in the US Embassy in Moscow pale by comparison.
They’d also insist that the plane be rebuilt with all of the security features of the current VC-25As (in-flight refueling, hardened secure comms, and countermeasures) before they’d ever let the 89th Airlift Wing fly it with the President on board and they’re already YEARS behind the existing Charlie-Foxtrot procurement project with the VC-25Bs so there is no way in hell the modifications Qatar Force One would be completed before the VC-25Bs unless the project were further sabotaged by the White House.
And if you’ll notice, there’s always two VC-25As ready to go when the President needs a ride, especially when they’re flying in hostile territories and I think a chimpanzee and two trainees could work out the reasons for that for themselves.
The Qataris only seem to be bribing Trump with one 747-8i which throws that layer of security out the window.
So for these and many other reasons, I just can’t see Trump being allowed to fly on that plane whilst he’s President.
So if I’m understanding the reality of the situation…Qatar is proposing to “gift” Trump a $400M Boeing 747-8i which would then undergo at least $1-2B in upgrades and retrofitting which won’t be done before he leaves office (at taxpayer’s expense no less so kiss the savings he actually wrung from Boeing on the VC-25Bs goodbye!) and this upgraded aircraft would then be transferred to Trump’s personal ownership through the library foundation, likely in a tax-free transaction.
And all along, Qatar is able to demand all sorts of favours from the President which would likely enrich them, Iran, and bankroll Hamas and Hezbollah.
Even the most ardently MAGA Republicans on the Hill need to tell President Trump that there is no way in hell Congress will bless acceptance of this “gift” and the strings that would come with it.
Anyone who votes to allow this “gift” to be accepted deserves being booted out of office at the next election.