Trump says he'd be 'stupid' to turn down Qatar's offer of a new plane
Source: NPR
Updated May 12, 2025 11:25 AM ET
President Trump on Monday scoffed at concerns raised about Qatar's offer to replace Air Force One with a luxury Boeing 747 jet, calling it a nice gesture that would be "stupid" to turn down.
The offer, which was first reported by ABC News, comes on the eve of Trump's visit to the Middle East. The president is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It would be one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government, and raises legal and ethical questions.
"I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane,' " he told reporters. "I thought it was a great gesture." Trump said the existing Air Force One jets were old and extremely expensive to maintain and said that replacements from Boeing had been delayed.
He told reporters that Qatar's leaders offered a replacement to use until new Air Force One jets are ready. Trump said it was not a gift to him — but a gift to the Defense Department, in recognition of the role the United States plays in security for the region. "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," he said.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/11/g-s1-65838/qatar-plane-trump
This is his "SQUIRREL!!!!!!" while his red state GOP loons throw their own under the bus by gutting Medicaid.
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IronLionZion
(48,916 posts)
Bengus81
(8,839 posts)IronLionZion
(48,916 posts)GOP controls all 3 branches of government. No consequences
Bengus81
(8,839 posts)
samsingh
(18,055 posts)
Karasu
(1,219 posts)
gab13by13
(28,252 posts)He can't be arrested and when Qatar asks for a favor it won't come out of Krasnov's pocket.
greatauntoftriplets
(177,685 posts)Any guesses what his next high-profile bribe will be? It's downright embarrassing for those of us who have been told to deal with the austerity that his economic policies ( 
) are bringing.
Balatro
(34 posts)It's his own personal airplane that will transferred to his "presidential library" and used by him privately until he is dead. I guess he thinks we're the stupid ones for pointing out the obvious.
Bengus81
(8,839 posts)That aircraft will be used almost daily by Trump or his kids. This whole scheme of how all of this will "work" is one of the biggest fucking LIES ever spewed by that orange POS.
IA8IT
(6,164 posts)
Irish_Dem
(69,993 posts)People who follow the law and ethics are stupid losers.
liberalgunwilltravel
(816 posts)You’ll be stupid no matter what you.
Martin68
(25,807 posts)
Ponietz
(3,744 posts)republianmushroom
(19,987 posts)BurnDoubt
(509 posts)Try, at least, to look like and care about obeying the Law. Try it once and see if it's true, what everybody says about being a law-abiding citizen.
BurnDoubt
(509 posts)But, it was more likely he was looking at Eve's Apples. And of course he grabbed .............
kimbutgar
(25,149 posts)Fox and right wing media would be Screaming at the top of their lungs that this is illegal and wrong!
OAITW r.2.0
(30,323 posts)
Uncle Joe
(61,769 posts)Last edited Mon May 12, 2025, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)
he has small hands to boot so he needs gimme putts to the get the ball in the hole.
If he had been President, the late Arnold Palmer would never have accepted that emolument.
Thanks for the thread BumRushDaShow
Karasu
(1,219 posts)naturally, every single time he opens his senile 4th-grade level mouth.
msongs
(71,280 posts)
Turbineguy
(39,038 posts)twodogsbarking
(13,764 posts)
marble falls
(65,591 posts)Jarqui
(10,666 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(163,560 posts)The president tried to defend an apparent plan in which he’d get to use a luxury jet from the government of Qatar. It didn’t go well.
Trump's plan to accept a luxury jet from Qatar was endorsed by his attorney general — who also happens to be a former lobbyist for Qatar.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-05-12T12:05:33.071Z
This is unfolding despite the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which Trump has dismissed as "phony." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
This is unfolding despite the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which Trump has dismissed as "phony."
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-scrambles-defend-luxury-jet-qatar-ll-use-air-force-one-rcna206207
In his second term, the news at the intersection of Trump and planes is far less funny. NBC News reported:
The Trump administration is preparing to accept a superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar as a gift to be used by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One for presidential travel until shortly before Trump leaves office, according to four sources familiar with the planning. Two of the sources also confirm that ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation once the president ends his second term.
According to a report from ABC News, which was the first to break this story, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Justice Department lawyers determined that the acceptance of the plane was legally permissible if the Qatari government gifts it to the Defense Department and it is later turned over to the Trump Library Foundation.
This is notable for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the attorney general’s recent professional background: Bondi used to work as a registered lobbyist for foreign clients, including the government of Qatar — the same government that’s apparently preparing to reward Trump with a jet. (Soon after Senate Republicans made her the nation’s chief law enforcement official, Bondi also disbanded the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force.).....
So let me see if I have this straight. The sitting American president is eager to accept the largest foreign gift in the history of the United States, which he intends to keep after he exits the White House, in defiance of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution — a black-letter legal provision that the Republican is on record dismissing as “phony.” Trump is prepared to welcome a foreign government’s largess, even as that same country strikes private deals with the president’s family-run business.
This entire arrangement was approved by the president's attorney general — who worked as a well-paid lobbyist for that same country.
It’s against this backdrop that Trump wrote that his critics are “crooked.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who’s spent months focusing on White House corruption, described these developments as “wildly illegal.” In theory, congressional Republicans — many of whom seemed quite concerned about Qatari gifts to American universities in the recent past — could easily come to the same conclusions.
But it seems more likely that GOP lawmakers will again shrug with indifference.
Xoan
(25,512 posts)being honest is stupid.
DENVERPOPS
(12,310 posts)of how much work would need to be done on the plane???? Plus, who is he going to get to do the work???? Him getting the plane would certainly piss off Boeing......To add all the custom security, refrigeration/cooling, defense features, communication equipment, huge food storage refrigerators and food lockers, kitchens that prepare the food served, etc etc etc would take years. And the only people knowledgeable enough would be the Boeing engineers and workers that are already working on the newly purchased, future Air Force One (s).......
And of this you can be sure......even if he is declaring it his personal plane, so that he can keep it when he is no longer president, you can bet the Taxpayers are gonna pay more than a hundred million in making it ready......and maintaining it.
Marcuse
(8,429 posts)
travelingthrulife
(2,368 posts)
Rebl2
(16,389 posts)got the first few words correct. He’s stupid.
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,560 posts)Plane has been available on an unprotected runway for a long time for various groups to plant spyware and tracking devices. This plane may have to stripped down to the frame to check for extra hardware/spyware. It will NOT be cheap to get this plane to be ready to be Air Force One.
Turning Qatari 747 into Air Force One could cost billion and take years, experts say
— MSNBC (@msnbc.com) 2025-05-13T22:28:19.405Z
Link to tweet
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/turning-qatari-747-air-force-one-cost-1-billion-take-years-experts-say-rcna206582
They said that accepting the 13-year-old jet would likely cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over time, noting that refurbishing the commercial plane would exceed its current value of $400 million. The project might also not be completed by the end of Trump’s term in 2029, at which time the plane is expected to be handed over to Trump’s presidential library foundation.
Richard Aboulafia, an analyst and consultant on commercial and military aviation, said he thought turning the Qatari jetliner into Air Force One would cost billions and take years.
“You’re taking a 747, disassembling it, reassembling it, and then jacking it up to a very high level,” said Aboulafia, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm......
The Qatari jumbo jet would have to be effectively dismantled, part by part, to ensure there were no listening devices, spyware or other security vulnerabilities that could allow foreign powers to eavesdrop on the president’s plane.
It would then have to be fitted with costly, sophisticated systems for secure government communications, midair refueling, missile defense, countering electronic jamming and protecting against electro-magnetic pulse attack. There would likely need to be quarters added for White House medical staff and the Secret Service.
Grim Chieftain
(173 posts)He can't be anything else.
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,560 posts)This plane has been on the market for five years and there are no buyers. This plane uses a ton of fuel and can only land on special runways. trump is bailing out a member of the royal family by taking a plane that is not marketable.
"Why The Qataris Are Happy To Dump Their 747 On Trump"
— Zach Everson (@zacheverson.com) 2025-05-15T17:36:13.733Z
"There may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore."
@jeremybogaisky.bsky.social for @forbes.com
"There may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore."
Link to tweet
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2025/05/14/qatar-747-trump
The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs, aviation experts told Forbes. Making Trump happy would be an added bonus.
Qatar, which has given away another blinged-out 747 and may have mothballed two more, epitomizes the fading demand for these huge, fuel-guzzling, highly personalized airplanes. There aren’t many who want to buy them, and many of the governments and royal families who own them have been trying to ditch them over the past decade.
“Qatar, like many modern states, is shifting toward leaner, more versatile aircraft, which offer better economics and more discreet presence for official travel,” Linus Bauer, managing director of the Dubai-based aviation consulting firm BAA & Partners, told Forbes. Giving the plane to Trump would be “a creative disposal strategy” that marks “a farewell to a bygone model of geopolitical theater in the skies.”.....
Beyond poor fuel efficiency, large ostentatious planes are a security risk, notes Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with Aerodynamic Advisory. “These things are big targets.” And bigger planes can only land on longer runways, limiting their usage. “There are a lot more airports you can get into if you have a narrowbody, and many more still if you have a traditional business jet,” he said......
Giving the 747-8 to the U.S. would also allow the Qataris to avoid maintenance costs that are only getting higher with the 747 fleet shrinking worldwide and fewer mechanics available who know how to work on them, said John Goglia, a former airline mechanic and member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The 2020 sales brochure noted that the plane was due for a landing gear overhaul in 2024 and a 12-year check in 2027. A check in which the airplane and engines are taken apart, typically carried out every six to 12 years, can take months to complete and cost millions of dollars. “The numbers are staggering,” said Goglia.
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,560 posts)
Retrograde
(11,111 posts)Back in the days when I was writing support plans for a multinational computer manufacturer my boss drummed that into my head: you can't just look at what's on the price tag, you have to consider all the costs - delivery, day-to-day running costs, maintenance, replacement parts, upgrades. A system may have a list price that's a few $K cheaper than a competitor, but if you have to pay that much to upgrade your buildings to run and maintain it is it really a savings?
And that's (part of) Donnie's problem: he sees "free" and his reasoning stops there. No concept of how much it will cost to bring the plane to the US, how much the inspections and (probably) refurbishment to bring it up to something that meets FAA standards, much less the Secret Service's ones, how much it will cost to fuel and maintain, etc. All he really knows about airplanes is how to run an airline into the ground (figuratively, that is)