By now-my friends- I think I’m someone who has a ‘very good bead’ on Donald Trump...and what he’s really trying to do...when he trots out some of his silly statements or questionable ideas.
I’ve been watching the guy since 2015 ..when i had a mostly ‘incorrect’ read on him...and only voted for him in 2016 because he ‘wasn’t Hillary’ and because he came onto the show and promised that he would appoint a conservative judge to Antonin Scalia’s open seat...
But since that time...I think I’ve homed in pretty well on ‘who Donald Trump is’ and what his motivations are when he does or says something.
That said: i have no ‘good bead’ on why he’s so ‘dug in’ on this idea of getting a free plane from Qatar- a country that until recently- we’ve never considered a foreign ally or friendly nation.
Why won’t trump just admit that this ‘looks bad’. Looks like a bribe from a country whose leaders still support some terror organizations. Still harbor Hamas and Hezbollah leaders...etc.?
Why won’t he just admit- it’s a lovely gesture by the Qatari royal family...but if we are going to use it as Air Force One-or if I’m going to make it my new private jet afterward- we’re going to have to purchase it?
Why dig in-when 80 percent of Americans- most republican congressmen-and even most people in Maga-land...say it’s a bad idea. It looks like he’s taking a bribe.
Well- former house speaker Kevin McCarthy might have the first answer that seems logical to me.McCarthy thinks this is really all about lighting a fire under Boeing’s butt...to get them to finally...dammit....finish the new planes that President Trump ordered in term one.
There’s no shortage of republicans on the hill who are saying this is a mistake. We have an emoluments clause for a reason. Trump should honor it.
It also opens the path for democrats to skit-scat an bee-bop all over trump for some ‘fake scandals. As they have been for four days now.
And they can-because this doesn’t pass the smell test for most Americans-and they know it.
So, in typical fashion, Chuck Schumer and his democrats are insisting on making a big deal out of this and pretending they are the ‘keepers of the ethics’ now.
They’re unethical scumbags...and the voters know it...so why give them the opening?
Trump has scummy senators like Adam Schiff calling for investigations...as scummy Chuck Schumer pretends, he ...must do something...to block this bribery
I think it’s a dumb hill for Trump to die on, too, and i doubt he will. I assume he’ll back off here-because this is about tweaking Boeing-
Or maybe it’ll be because someone he trusts will explain how politically stupid it is when he’s winning in every other way.
But I will make this point: there is a huge difference between this and say- the Bidens- taking foreign bribes. Bribes are paid out in secret.
This is a transaction that Trump and his team have talked openly about from the start. At no time. Were they ‘secretly’ trying to get Qatar to give trump a plane.
So-whether you think it’s ethical for Trump to accept it or not- let’s not pretend he or his team were-ever-trying to hide it.
It sounds like the royal family made Trump a very, very, generous offer...and he wants to say yes...and told his team to find a way for him to accept the plane.
Again- you can question the ethics of it- but it’s all being done out in the open.
Let’s also not pretend that-Donald Trump- a privileged billionaire who likes expensive things and expensive gifts- doesn’t want the plane.
I assume he does.
It’s a gift for the country. A gift for the country would stay in the air force fleet after trump leaves office and remain in that stable of planes we call air-force one. It isn’t a gift for the country if it goes to the trump library in three years...and he uses it for his personal travel...which was the initialstory- on the gift.
But he’s right to say: all we do is ‘give’ to other countries. All we do is- hand money and nice things to other countries. Why can’t we accept a gift like this?
That logic? I don’t object to. The Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship. Would this be different?
It’s not that big a deal to me because- very importantly-this is all being done out in the open. Trump isn’t ‘taking a bribe’ or hiding anything. And – if it ends up in the air force fleet until it’s no longer needed- fine.
Then taking the plane makes sense.
Moreover- many listeners won’t know this-
Moreover- the tradition is that-once an ‘Air Force One’ is retired...it does end up in some aerial or presidential museum.
It does.
Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One and a few secret service vehicles-are at his library in California. Others are at the national air force museum.
Several presidential museums have their protective vehicles, etc.
And so- after. After- this plane is no longer needed as a presidential vehicle...to have it shipped off to sit at the Donald trump presidential library would be in perfect keeping with past actions.
Bottom line: as Trump describes it? It’s not a terrible move to accept this plane.
But the optics of it are terrible. It’s hard to overlook the fact that it-is- from Qatar...which was basically an ‘enemy state’ until more recently. Their leaders do have ties and have created safe havens for the leaders of terror organizations.Etc.
The middle east is a complicated place and there are no ‘greatly moral’ countries over there- and this just ‘looks bad’.
I say ‘no’ to the plane or agree to have the defense dept buy it.
Better yet- light a fire under Boeing’s behind and demand that they get the new fleet done- immediately.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > What's up with this big beautiful plane?