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The government of Qatar gave Donald Trump a gold-plated luxury 747 worth about $400 million. And it wasn't even his birthday. What kind and generous people those Qataris are! In absolutely, completely unrelated news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that Qatar will be allowed to build a military facility inside the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.
This is a first. No foreign country has ever been allowed to build a military base on U.S. soil, and certainly not on a military base. The security risk there is enormous. When the U.S. sells military hardware to allies, individual soldiers from that country are invited to the U.S. for training on how to use the weapons, but the recipient country does not get to build a base on U.S. soil, and certainly not on a U.S. military base, with concomitant risks of spying, theft and more. The foreign soldiers are housed in the barracks with American soldiers, so everyone can keep an eye on them. Allowing foreign countries to build structures on U.S. bases has never been allowed. Until now.
Hegseth gave no explanation why Qatar gets to put its own buildings on the air base when other U.S. partners do not. Qatar is a nominal ally of the U.S. at the moment, but has been accused of funding Hamas and other terrorist groups. Not surprisingly, Qatar denies this, but sometimes helping terrorists is easier than fighting them off.
Trump whisperer and Islamophobe Laura Loomer is beyond furious. She tweeted "Never thought I'd see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they can murder Americans." She also posted a clip of Trump speaking in 2017 and accusing Qatar of funding terrorism. In addition, she said she might not vote in the midterms next year.
She wasn't the only Trump ally who was dismayed by this. Steve Bannon sent Newsweek this text message: "There should never be a military base of a foreign power on the sacred soil of America." But maybe he is just jealous that the Qataris never gave him a $400 million gold-plated airplane. (V)