Dem
47
GOP
53
We put "Air Force One" in quotes because, of course, we don't mean the real Air Force One. We mean Qatar Force One,
the jumbo jet that the Qataris gifted to Donald Trump the United States, purely out of the kindness of their
hearts, and for no other reason whatsoever. Conveniently, the plane will be transferred to the Donald Trump Presidential
Library on the last day of Trump's presidential administration, such that no other president will ever use it.
To start with, we think it is beyond dispute that Trump rushed the new plane into service before it was appropriate to do so. He might have done so because he likes shiny, new toys, and he doesn't have the impulse control to wait 2+ years. Or, he might have done so in order to undermine the stories about how it would take years for the plane to be ready, and that it would pretty much only be used after his presidency, with John and Jane Q. Taxpayer paying hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to spruce up his private plaything. Actually, it is probably both of these things.
If the President had just used the plane domestically, perhaps this would not have come to light (or at least it would not have come to light so quickly). But he just HAD to fly it to Turkey for the G7, which meant coming very close to Iranian airspace. And then, he could not fly it home, at risk of it being shot down due to its lack of proper security features. Pretty much anyone could have put 2+2 together here, but it was The New York Times that did so with authority, backed by insider information from sources within the Secret Service.
Trump was reportedly humiliated by this news. Perhaps because he thought it made him look cowardly that he would not fly on the less safe plane. Or perhaps because it suggested he was being played by Israel, since it was their intel that led to the plane switch. Maybe both. Whatever was going on, the prudent course of action was to take the "L" and let the story die down. But that is not how Trump, who continues to demonstrate that he's never heard of the Streisand effect, rolls.
Consequently, in a manner reminiscent of the sharpie-hurricane map fiasco, Trump and his underlings flailed around, trying to "fix" the situation. First up was a claim that Trump only used the old Air Force One to get home because Qatar Force One was scheduled to go on a tour of U.S. military bases in Europe. When absolutely nobody bought that ridiculous tale, the White House shifted gears, and insisted that Qatar Force One was fully renovated and the Times was lying. The ever-pliant Department of Justice followed that with subpoenas aimed at getting the Times to reveal its sources. This is a maneuver that pretty much never works, in part because in most reporter-source communications the reporter is covered by the First Amendment. And in part because no matter what the law might say, most reporters' lips are zipped, since they have a sense of ethics and also since they don't want to communicate to their current and future sources that they (the reporter) cannot be trusted.
A few days after that, while the White House was at war with the Times, Trump decreed/bragged that Qatar Force One will be out of service again, so its security features can be "maxed out." Trump either does not realize, or does not care about, the implications of his words, but this makes crystal clear that his previous claims about the renovations being complete were baldfaced lies. He also said that the "maxing out" would take a month. Anyone who believes that should let us know what they're smoking. And if there is any doubt he's fudging the truth, Trump also announced that Qatar Force One would only do domestic duty from here on out. Why would that limitation be necessary if the plane is just as safe as the original Air Force One?
And finally, the news from yesterday that may represent the final defeat in this little drama. The Times, as we have noted a couple of times, was trying to get the subpoenas quashed. There was a hearing yesterday on the matter in the courtroom of Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Arun Subramanian. The Judge advised the government's lawyers that the subpoenas were clearly improper, and should be withdrawn, or else they would indeed be quashed. He also casually observed that if this were a civil proceeding, as opposed to a criminal one, he would consider sanctioning the government's attorneys for professional misconduct. Trump's DOJ stooges got the message, and "voluntarily" withdrew the subpoenas. "Voluntarily" is how it's officially recorded in the court proceedings, so they saved face a little, we suppose.
Perhaps we have finally reached the end of this little tragicomedy, and Trump will realize that the less attention that he draws to his new toy, the better. But, truth be told, we doubt it. (Z)