Plane Speaking

Trump’s $400 million airplane bribe from Qatar is so overwhelming a blatant grift that it deserves a follow-up from Tuesday's article.  That’s because there was so much that was so utterly pathetic, idiotic and crooked to delve deeply into first that a couple other things got left out or lost in the muck despite being deeply scammy all on their own.  We'll get to them today.

First, though, I must bring up a reminder of something that gets completely overlooked in all this. But it's necessary to reference as the core foundation of perspective, lest anyone lose sight of the underlying reality:  Last February, Trump was literally found guilty in court of business fraud.

It's who he is.

(Fun Fact:  To add further perspective and help round out the full picture, Trump was ordered to pay $355 million in penalties.  In a touch of whimsy, that's almost the same amount as the cost of the $400 million Air Qatar grift gift.  Hey, for all we know, the Qataris saw that as a challenge and wanted to top it...)

Okay, back to the current fraud scam.

There are two things about the bribe gift that Trump keeps trying extremely hard to point out as making it all seem not only okay, but near-perfect.  In fact, they both are the exact opposite and meaningless. 

What Trump tries to tell everyone is that the planes are freeeeee, and also the plane is not for him personally, but it’s a gift to the U.S. Defense Department, and he needs it right now for the office of the president because the current Air Force One is out of date.

So, let’s dive in.

Putting aside that it doesn’t matter if the $400 million airplane is freeeeeeeee – it’s still illegal for him or any federal official accept.  Especially without the approval from Congress.  Which from a great many comments from even MAGOPs there, it seems improbable the flying bribe on Air Qatar would get it.

More to the point, the plane isn’t even close to freeeeeeee.  Air Force One is an official military transport, in fact part of the Defense Department.  As such, there not only would be a cost to check every single part of a the plane from Qatar (an ally that is also an ally of China, Iran and the terrorist Hamas organization) before it could be secured for use by a president and then it would have to be outfitted with top-secret security material, but the cost would likely be massive, dwarfing even the cost of the plane that Qatar paid for it.  Some estimates have put that price tag to be in the range of a billion dollars.  Which, I must note, is a lot to pay for something that is supposedly freeeeee. 

And all paid for by the American public.  At a time when Trump has used “DOGE” to make mass firings and cut spending for things like Alzheimer research, protections against infant death, disease research, and entire departments, even shredding the Department of Education.

Which brings us to Trump’s second claim.  That, oh, no, this isn’t for him, not at all, it’s a gift to the U.S. Defense Department for use by the president’s office because he needs it to do his job properly.

The problem with this is –

There is currently a new Air Force One being built.  It’s not ready yet, because these things take time, but the project is well underway.  So, the plane is unnecessary.

And also, because these things take time, even if the U.S. accepted the grift from Qatar, the time it would take to take apart and inspect the entire plane and its software and then retrofit everything with top-end security measures, there’s a good chance that plane might not be ready until after Trump left office, so he would get absolutely no use from it as president.  At most, at best, he’d get six months or a year to use it.  So, the plane is unnecessary.

And then, after all this, unused by the office of the president, the $400 million plane would become the property – not of the Defense Department or to the U.S., which one would reasonably think is how gifts that are made to the Defense Department or to the country would work – but it would be owned in full by the Trump Library Foundation.  So, the plane is unnecessary.  Except to Trump. 

It's the end -- and the beginning -- it's really basic:

The $400 million grift plane is not free.

It is not needed, because a new Air Force One is being built.

It will not ever be available to be used by the office of the president.

When leaving office, it does not stay the property of the U.S. but switches ownership to Trump.

It’s all just grift.  It’s all a scam.  It’s all a bribe.  And it’s from a country that Trump himself has called a terrorist nation.

And the thing is, the grift is so blatant and egregious that even MAGOPs are pointing out the con and don’t want the plane.

Again, lest it slip through the cracks here, but it bears repeating -- and repeating:  Trump was found guilty last year of business fraud.  And fined $355 million.

Now, of course, it is possible that Trump will take possession of the $400 million flying palace from Qatar.  Though right now, it seems unlikely.  But even at that, there remains a problem for Trump and MAGOPs:  because a $400 million airplane bribe is much too hard to hide.  And far too hard to forget.  And so, it will continue to tar Trump and even MAGOPs for not, as a united party, standing immediately and shutting down the bribery immediately.

Little bribes, little grifts all blend in together and can easily fall through the cracks.  You have a hard time focusing on them since there are so many.  You have a hard time even remembering them.  With so many other travesties, you often have a hard time even caring about them.

But a $400 million airplane bribe?  From a nation that’s an ally of terrorists?  Put aside it could cost a billion dollars.  Put aside that it’s unneeded.  But aside that it will be Trump’s personal person.  Everyone can remember a $400 million airplane.

It's the grift that keeps on giving.