Dem
47
GOP
53
There are presidents who managed to outshine all their peers (so far) in one way or another. Abraham Lincoln was the best public speaker. Lyndon B. Johnson was the best at getting legislation through Congress. Richard Nixon was probably the most skilled diplomat.
During his first term, Donald Trump established himself as far and away the most corrupt president in American history. It's not even close—scandal-plagued presidents like Warren Harding, Bill Clinton, Nixon, etc. aren't within a country mile of The Donald. And now that he is in his second term, Trump continues to explore new frontiers in corruption, finding novel and breathtaking ways to try to exploit his high office for his own benefit.
The latest news on this front, first reported by ABC News, is that the royal family of Qatar plans to bestow a $400-million super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, described as a "palace in the sky," upon the Trump administration. The plane will ostensibly replace the current presidential plane—which, of course, bears the designation "Air Force One" whenever the sitting president is on board.
Trump is spinning this as a DOGE-style maneuver meant to save some money for the federal government. Here's the rant he uncorked last night on Truth Social, now brought to you by the nation of Qatar:
So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA
You could possibly read between the lines there and deduce a somewhat more selfish motivation, namely that a luxurious 40-year-old plane just isn't luxurious enough for Trump, and he wants something newer and fancier (probably with golden toilets), and isn't happy that the actual new presidential plane won't be delivered until 2029, by which time he will be out of office.
But it is actually much worse than that. The plane is only going to be loaned to the federal government (which will then spend tens of millions of dollars modifying it to have the proper security and communications measures). At the end of Trump's term, it will then be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, which will be the permanent owner.
All of this stinks seven ways to Sunday. To start, the federal government does not need "donations," especially of such a high-profile nature, and especially from a foreign government. Beyond that, the whole "Trump presidential library foundation" is very obviously meant to mislead people. Most Americans, and presumably 99% of readers of this site, know that the Reagan Presidential library has the Air Force One that the Gipper flew on. So, this Qatar "deal" is designed to look like the same thing.
However, the Air Force One at the Reagan library is not only a non-functional plane, it also belongs to the library. And the library belongs to the National Archives and Records Administration, which means the plane actually belongs to the federal government. By contrast, this Qatari plane would be fully functional, and would belong to the Trump presidential library foundation, a charitable organization/PAC under the control of one Donald J. Trump. Put simply, Trump's name might not appear on the pink slip (or whatever color airplane-ownership paperwork is), but the Qataris would nonetheless be giving him a personal, luxury airplane for him to use for the rest of his days, even after he is no longer in office.
Already, AG Pam Bondi has "reviewed" the transaction, and determined that it does not violate the emoluments clause, because the donation is not conditioned on any specific official act. It is remarkable that Bondi and her underlings can say this with a straight face. The royal family of Qatar does not hand out planes worth nearly half a billion dollars because they are feeling generous. There could be a specific quid pro quo that has been agreed upon behind closed doors, or it could be that they expect some sort of favorable treatment (no tariffs?) going forward. Whatever the case may be, they expect to get far more than $400 million in value out of this clear-cut bribe.
Naturally, Democrats across the nation are apoplectic, but Trump does not care about them. However, he does tend to care about MAGA Republicans, and they are also unhappy. The primary problem is that Qatar is in bed with Iran, and most MAGA Republicans hate, hate, hate Iran. The Republican members of Congress have been silent, as is usually the case with them, but a lot of MAGA pundits have excoriated the deal. That includes Laura Loomer, who apparently exerts more influence over Trump than anyone who is not Stephen Miller.
Qatar, for its part,
issued a press release
that described as "premature" the news that the plane would be given over to Trump. It is possible that they are giving
Trump an "out," in the event that he decides the heat is too much to handle. It is also possible that the Qataris have
not quite nailed down what they are getting out of this transaction, and they want to wait until they meet with Trump
this week (his first foreign trip of Trump v2.0) to figure out the nitty-gritty (even if that is off the record) before
making the bribe donation.
If the arrangement does move forward, it would render the emoluments clause all but meaningless. If a person or business or government can "loan" something to a president, and then "give" that thing to their presidential library foundation once they leave office, and the only thing necessary is that there's no publicly announced quid pro quo, then it's open season for virtually any bribe one can imagine.
Might Congress step forward, should it come to that? We're not optimistic, but it's not impossible. It only takes a few Republicans to recognize the can of worms that would be opened here, and that would not only be open to exploitation by Trump over the next 3 years, but by all future presidents, Republican and Democratic. Alternatively, could the courts get involved? Maybe, but: (1) It's hard to know who might have standing to sue, and (2) it's very possible that the courts, and in particular the Supreme Court, could determine this is a political question and not justiciable.
So, the best hope for this to be torpedoed is political pressure from right-wingers. If that doesn't work, then the White House Office of Grift will likely do a land-office business over the next 3 years. (Z)