The world is still somewhat shellshocked by the open and notorious corruption on display by all sides within the Qatar-Trump-U.S. 747 axis. There is no question – none – that Qatar, which is both a nation state and somewhat a royal house, cannot give the gift to a U.S. President under our Constitution. Whether the Constitution means fck all under Trump is the only remaining open question, one that will likely be partially answered as the matter plays out in front of Congress. Even the Republicans might be squeamish. We now, however, come to find out that the gift doesn’t so much symbolize Qatari largesse as their cleverness in finding a way to jettison a white elephant on greedy and gaudy hands, while also receiving true value in its relationship with the president of the United States for the self-serving act. In short, they dumped a shitty, cash-eating, older plane on a man just vain enough to take it anyway, thinking it’s just the coolest thing ever.
Forbes did some digging on the Qatari royal family and found that they are the trolls you suspected, the type who appoint luxury 747s for their own self-pampering at the cost of their citizens. They have a fleet of jets, including a handful of aging 747s that simply cannot be economically flown around these days, not in a world of 787s and 777s, along with highly efficient narrow-body planes. In other words, it became a problem owning the 747 – particularly in light of the fact that this one (Due to the luxury appointments) couldn’t be sold on the highly lucrative freight market. According to reporting by Forbes:
Giving the 747-8 to the U.S. would also allow the Qataris to avoid maintenance costs that are only getting higher with the 747 fleet shrinking worldwide and fewer mechanics available who know how to work on them, said John Goglia, a former airline mechanic and member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The 2020 sales brochure noted that the plane was due for a landing gear overhaul in 2024 and a 12-year check in 2027. A check in which the airplane and engines are taken apart, typically carried out every six to 12 years, can take months to complete and cost millions of dollars. “The numbers are staggering,” said Goglia.
The numbers are staggering unless you are a U.S. President and don’t care about numbers when it comes to luxury and your brand. At that point, any cost to fix any airplane is simply baked into the cost of living at that point. Trump is going to demand his luxury 747. He will demand one that has been on the market for a while and failed to sell!
The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing.
Qatar was desperate to get rid of this jet, and nobody wanted to buy it — because it’s so ungodly huge that it’s too expensive to operate, too expensive to maintain, and too expensive to store.
The report goes on to note that the plane may be useless to the United States and serve only a function for private citizen Donald Trump if he were to somehow hold onto it:
It would take at least five years starting again from scratch, Aboulafia estimates, unless security requirements were relaxed. “I can’t imagine any well-trained senior Air Force officer saying this is a good idea,” he said. Democrats and some Republicans are also alarmed over the ethics of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign country.
So it is that Qatar was going to get rid of the thing anyway. One almost has to whistle at the thoroughly corrupt genius move. They got everything they wanted. Trump must be afraid that he might appear ungrateful but for accepting the gift and “returning the favor,” there is a reason that the drafters of the original Constitution wrote exactly what they did about accepting gifts (Emoluements).
Regardless, if the United States were to use such a plane, we now know that we’re doing the Qataris a favor by doing so. That’s at least two favors right there… God only knows where it ends from here.
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A well maintained 747 can give four or five decades of highly reliable service life. But, as you say at a cost. Something you didn’t mention also factors in – the Emir wanted something even more fancy and luxurious. Rich as he and his country is however they don’t need this particular plane or for that matter some of the others. But their problem is that while the thing was tricked out to the Emir’s personal taste other mega rich people who could afford such a toy have their own gaudy taste. That’s why Qatar couldn’t sell the damned thing, at least not for anything like they wanted to get out of it. They’ve given luxury jets to others, but something like this? It’s a whole new level of giveaway. Owning a big chunk of a U.S. President makes it a good deal. For THEM.
Here’s an interesting tidbit that’s not gotten much attention. This only became news in the past couple of weeks but it’s been in the works longer. That jet, the very one Trumpty wants has been sitting at the airport in San Antonio since the beginning of April! Just sitting there. Clearly it would have been flown there had some discussions and the outlines of an agreement already been worked out. This “deal” might be months old in the making. Hell, talks could have started during the transition!
This whole thing stinks to high heaven, or at least higher than the damned jet can fly! Enough GOPers including in Congress are expressing reservations that I’d say the odds are only 50-50 this “deal” goes through. The plane WOULD have value to the Air Force but ONLY to the Air Force. It could be stripped for parts for the new 747’s being prepared for the Presidential Aircraft fleet. Just like the ones that will be retired from service. But that’s all.
Let Qatar send a team to San Antonia and strip out all the luxury shit. And use the bare bones version for parts. Even that is dubious to a degree. Who knows what they might have installed in communications gear or other items as simple as wiring and plumbing that are disguised? That can after being inspected remotely turned on years from now to eavesdrop?
It squashes all previous corruption.
What a damning judgement on Trump that the Qatar hierarchy thought this sordid scheme would work … and they were right. Dazzle him with flattery and dangle a bauble in front of his greedy eyes and voila! he’s yours to manipulate, the proverbial putty in your hands. I have NO faith that anybody in the MAGAt GOP will even whimper an objection to this blatant corruption.
Hopefully there’s a kill switch that we never find in it.
“…alarmed over the ethics …”
It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. End. Stop. Period. Don’t have to go any further…
A man that stands for NOTHING will fall for anything. Malcolm X.