Qatar's luxury jet 'gift' to Trump is ultimate MAGA grift
Republican Ari Fleischer, a Fox News contributor who was press secretary under President George W. Bush and is apparently now a liberal squish, wrote on social media: "Nothing about getting Air Force One from a foreign government feels right."
If Trump is fine getting a $400 million gift from Qatar, then I'm fine with it
Fleischer is wrong. Based on the way the president is talking about the jet, it seems like it feels great.
"They're giving us a free jet," Trump said on May 12.
Speaking recently about possible consumer price increases stemming from his patriotic tariffs, the president told American families that their children don't need anything more than three dolls and five pencils. I thought that was very generous of the president, and I didn't see his willingness to allow us to purchase three dolls and five pencils as a bribe of any sort.
The MAGA math here is straightforward: We get to buy our children three dolls and five pencils, the already rich president gets a free opulent jet that has a stairwell, an upper-deck lounge, two bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
Perfectly fair. Rich people deserve nice things, too.
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'I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer'
If accepted, the Qatari jet would be retrofitted - at a cost I assume would be more than three dolls and five pencils - and used as a new Air Force One.
Asked about the non-bribe May 12, Trump said: "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."
You see? Nothing dodgy about that.
Just the president of the United States accepting $400 million worth of winged decadence from a country where his son - representing the family business - recently signed a deal to develop a $5.5 billion golf club called the Trump International Golf Club, Simaisima.
Opinion: Trump wants to limit kids to three dolls and five pencils each. He's right.
If Biden got a free jet from a foreign country, it would be a problem
This is just totally normal president-ing stuff that would only be an issue if the president were a Marxist radical Democrat like Sleepy Joe "Corrupt" Biden, in which case it would require both impeachment and imprisonment.
And besides, this gift-jet would be used while Trump is president - because he currently only has two Air Force One jets with another two on order - and then might be "gifted" to his presidential library when he leaves office. That would mean regular Americans won't have to buy President Trump a gift when he leaves office, freeing up money to purchase more pencils for our children, assuming that by then they've used the five previously allotted.
Trump, with the innocence of a lamb, said of the jet: "It would go directly to the library after I leave office."
Correct. It would go to the library. Then it would presumably go wherever Trump and his family wanted to fly, because who wants to live in a country where former leaders have to get around in jets that don't have an upper-deck lounge? Imagine how bad we would all feel if the man who brought us MAGA had to endure post-presidency travel on a jet with, say, five bathrooms. That would be unacceptable.
If American children can have three dolls, the president can have a free jet
Qatari officials said in a statement: "The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar's Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made."
Or as Trump put it May 12 while confirming he would be getting a free jet: "I could say no, no, no don't give us. I want to pay you a billion or $400 million or whatever it is, or I could say thank you very much."
He then used a golfing anecdote to explain his rationale, which is obviously highly relatable to three-doll/five-pencil Americans.
Stop judging our billionaire president - he has grifting to do
So I say enough to any griping about the optics of this possible $400 million definitely-not-a-bribe gift, or about the fact that the "Make America Great Again" president would be flying around on a foreign country's swank-jet.
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We the people can get by on doll-and-pencil rationing just fine. But we can't ask a billionaire president to purchase his own luxury jet.
That would require him to tap into all the money he has made selling MAGA merchandise. And that, quite frankly, would be un-MAGA-American.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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