Trump laments size of 'much too big' airplane gifted by Qatar
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Boeing 747-8, a present from the Gulf state, is more than 18ft longer than the current Air Force One
Donald Trump's big, beautiful new plane from the government of Qatar has arrived - but the US president has a problem with it.
Not the smack of impropriety that comes with a US president accepting a luxury 747 jumbo jet from the Gulf state, intended as a replacement Air Force One - Trump has already brushed off any criticism on that front.
Now that it's arrived in the US, Trump says it's too big. The Qataris have given the president a Boeing 747-8, a stretch model of the jumbo that is more than 18 ft longer than the much older 747-200B that flies as the current Air Force One.
"Frankly, it's much too big," Trump told reporters during a question and answer media session in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
He expanded. He called the new jet a "beautiful, big, magnificent, free airplane for the United States air force". But is apparently unhappy with its size, although he has not sought to answer the question, too big for what?
The original offer from Qatar set off a firestorm of criticism of Trump, from both political parties, particularly following his visit to the country earlier this month where he focused most vigorously on trade and business deals. The US Senator Cory Booker and other prominent Democrats slammed the arrangement and Chris Murphy, the Connecticut senator, called the gift "the definition of corruption" and "wildly illegal".
Asked on Wednesday if it is definitely going to become Air Force One, the official plane of the president of the United States, Trump said only that the aircraft is in the US and "is being re-fitted for military standard".
He admitted he doesn't know how much the re-fitting will cost but guessed "a hell of a lot less than building a new one". He again criticized Boeing, the troubled US aircraft manufacturer for delays in replacing the current jet used as Air Force One, which dates to the early 1990s, apparently necessitating an expedited replacement from another country.
The White House insists the jet is a gift to the country not to Trump personally.
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Trump is mentally unstable and thus a danger to America and the world.
Just what the hell does that have to do with a gifted jet?.........to the DoD by the way.
Ah those fortuitous shell games ...
If Biden had accepted this gift exactly as Trump has, what would be your analysis?
The same as Trump's, that it is a gift to the people of the USA. Trump as no need of it for personal use when he leaves office.
B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T
You would be all over Biden calling him corrupt and 'bought by Qatar'.
Again, B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. You have no clue as to what anyone here would think except for yourself.[✘]
what do you think?
I see sky is falling hysteria
It is obvious what someone who consistently defends Trump and consistently badmouths anything D would do if Biden would have accepted a jet from Qatar.
And if you cannot take your comments being challenged then you should not be opining on a social news forum.
But what you seem to put aside, conveniently, is the fact that it is going to the DoD, NOT Trump personally. Get it? The country was gifted. For you to assume otherwise is just the way an uber partisan would see it. You know, "Cuz Trump".[✘]
[✘]
Post ridiculous claims and they will be challenged. Too bad if you do not like that.
It is pathetic to watch you, et.al. try to claim that Trump did not accept this gift. If you want to play that truly stupid game, then show us all the evidence that Trump rejected the gift.
The fact that this goes to the DoD does not change the fact that Trump said ‘yes’ to Qatar’s gift.
You get that, right?
‘And if you cannot take your comments being challenged then you should not be opining on a social news forum’
Wow!!! The irony of that statement
...
The right wing went into a total meltdown because Obama wore a tan suit, trust me on this, if Biden had accepted that jet from Qatar, you would have shit little green apples.
The right wing went into a total meltdown because Obama wore a tan suit
no, the left wing went into hysterics because a single republican congressman made a comment on Fox News about it. So many Progressives have spent 10 years obsessing over the time a guy dared criticize their cult leader.
When many of those on the left started crying about it on here, that was the forst time I heard of it.
No one really cares but most leftists.
So we are still running that fictitious narrative?
You think Qatar is not going to exploit this gift?
How? and be specific, and leave the TDS ramblings aside. Did they buy influence with the 7.5 carat diamond for Jill Biden? or the gem encrusted horse sculpture for Obama, Maybe Pat Nixons Pandas were bought with Chinese good will.
Wow a lab grown diamond worth all of 20,000$ ... that's what 0.0000099% of what the plane is worth as is? Gonna hafta toss in another billion of whose money again?
You want to know how quid pro quo works? As for specifics, I have not yet learned how to predict the future. Nor do I have access to Qatar strategic plans.
I do know that a jet worth $400 million is by orders of magnitude the most expensive gift ever accepted by an administration. Now why do you think they offered such an extravagant gift to a unethical con-man who was irresponsibly granted the powers of the US presidency?
Go ahead, think about that for a while.
hmmmm......I think 800 mgs of Ibuprofen is needed
Show us all where my comment has any partisan aspect.
That's not an answer.
Your utterly stupid question has an obvious answer.
It is NOT a fictitious narrative that Trump accepted a $400 million dollar jet from Qatar.
Now, do you think Qatar is not going to exploit this gift?
TRUMP didn't accept it. The Department of Defense accepted it. When you get facts straight, we'll talk.
Wrong, Trump accepted it.
And, just so you know, the DoD operates under Trump's direction. Do some research and recognize the chain of command.
You ignored my question. Just as I expected.
From your article: "The White House said the plane was a gift to the Department of Defense, and would go through the legal protocols required when something is given to the government. Trump has said he would not use it after leaving office and wants to keep it in his presidential library at that point."
How would Qatar exploit something that goes through legal protocols and does not directly benefit Trump other than possibly being in his Library some day? It seems it gives them no leverage other than to say "remember that big jet we gave the DOD?"
Don't care about your question. It's that simple. And you expect me to believe an NPR article? That's fkng hilarious.
But you somehow know they are going to exploit it.
The ONLY reason you are having a fit about this is because WHO is in office when it was proposed and approved. If it were the anybody else, you would have been silent.
Are you actually trying to claim that Trump rejected this gift?
He is on video stating that he would be stupid to not accept it.
What is with these pathetic literal games Trump supporters play?
It is (beyond) naive to believe that a $400 million dollar gift benefiting Trump is not a quid pro quo act by Qatar.
That in no way answers the question I asked.
What is it with the constant attempts to put words in others mouths and deflections that the partisan Trump haters play?
So he must be guilty before he even does anything. Sounds like it is time for another impeachment because it is beyond naive to think he is not guilty of something.
Get a grip.
Why pretend that you do not understand quid pro quo and the fact that Trump accepted this gift?
Do you think faux obtuseness persuades anyone who can think critically?
Do you think "badgering the witness" until they answer to your liking is any better?
There you go with that fictitious narrative again. Now all you have to do is prove it. Being you've admitted that you have access to any knowledge of that, good luck.
Are you claiming the article is wrong?
And that was enough for the left to set their hair on fire (again).
It appears the left is getting beaten at their own game.
Buy a vowel
Why pretend that you do not understand quid pro quo when it means something for something and Trump has given them nothing for the plane?
Do you think changing the meaning of words persuades anyone who can think logically? At least let Trump give Qatar something that can be seen as payment for giving a plane to the DOD before finding him guilty, it is not a good look.
Do you think no one has noticed all that is being done is doubling down on the deflection in order to not answer the question?
Part of this thread was removed for no value.
but, but, but, what about ..
all that office means to trumpski is revenge, retribution, and self enrichment ...
I guess he'll just have to "force" himself to accept it, AND take it with him after he is no longer POTUS.
Our next president, J D Vance, will be using after Donald departs.
I hope they cover all the couches in plastic.
LOL!
Wow....somebody is not paying attention. That plane is supposed to go to the trmp library...not to the next president
[✘]
You forgot "and park it at the Trump Library".
Nope did not. "AND take it with him after he is no longer POTUS."
Do you honestly think that he will park it and not continue to use it?
Yes I do. It is GovCo property even though going to the library..........and he has his own still as far as I know.
You just go ahead and believe that if it helps you sleep at night.
And you do the same with your opinion, since it seemingly keeps you up at night. If it goes to the library, you can bet your bottom dollar that the necessary equipment for flight will assuredly be decommissioned prior to display.
Straight to insulting insinuations? Can't you hold an adult debate without the insults?
If the plane is outfitted as the new AirForce1 (millions if not billions of dollars in cost to do), wouldn't that make it a government asset and for use in the following administrations?
Otherwise the 400 million dollar plane is a personal gift to Trump and clearly un-Constitutional by the Emoluments clause.
And just what the hell was this?
Hypocritical at best. And then we have this..........
Except that the Boeing contract could and should be finished by the end of his term, so perceptively no need. Should it not be ready, I can see the owner, you know, the Department of Defense, delaying taking it prior to the moth balling at the library just in case it isn't.
Except for the fact the DoD is receiving it. Should we shut that whole thing down cuz they took a gift? I think not.
So you want us to spend billions refurbishing Trump's present, then more billions to replace it with the so far non-existent Boeing plane? I thought you guys were against wasteful spending...
Of course they are. It will need to be stripped down to its skeletal structure (or more) and everything replaced in it. You think they'll just pull it into the Whitehouse's garage for that?
Only if you believe in following the Constitution. You do believe we should follow the Constitution, don't you?
Fact; the Qatari plane has been renting a place at the San Antonio Texas airport since 2020 and had a contract to check it, secure it, move it once in a while while checking basic systems to maintain it's ability to fly.
In essence, it "arrived" over 5 years ago when the brand new 2020 Qatari Boeing 747-8 was ready. The Qataris attempted to "trade it in' and when that didn't work out, ( Boeing never takes "trade ins") they put it on the used aircraft marketplace. They remained unusually stubborn about their supposed appraised value, hence never getting any offers they could seriously consider.
Now I suppose there is some internal tax advantage to the Qatari government by "donating" the plane to another country.
The Qatari stretch model is now 14 years old, the current AF1 is 34 years old and AF2 is 36 years old.
All five VCA's working the Presidential fleet are impeccably maintained and have far fewer flight time than their commercial counterparts.
The current build time to convert a 747-200 to the VCA specs is over 7 years.
Boeing usually takes a brand new commercial passenger plane and deconstructs it down to a shell with landing gear, modifying the airframe and internal wing structures first before adding additional layers of defensive insulation and a new outer shell that is much tougher than the original.
To think that the Qatari plane can be reconstructed in less time than the two already under contract for five years is a ridiculous boondoggle and waste of taxpayer $$
somebody should've run a hose and extension cord and listed it as an airbnb ...
I hope this is true. The Trump supporters all (in unison of course) claim that Trump did not accept this gift. The level of absurdity in the current Trump defense is staggering.