President Trump is desperate to make his mark. So desperate that he personally sat down in the Oval Office to hammer out a deal with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to scrap the current 747s used as Air Force One for ones that he designed – with what is a “more American” look.
According to Axios, additional “improvements” to the planes that Trump wants, include:
- A larger, more comfortable presidential bed aboard — one more like the one on his personal plane.
- Improvements to the existing medical facility, executive space, secure communication suite and self-defense system.
Trump plans to change the signature look of Air Force One, designed by President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the early 1960s, to a “more American” look, which apparently will include the colors red, white and blue. It seems that Trump dislikes the robin’s-egg blue, which he refers to as a “Jackie Kennedy color”. Throwing away a design that evokes more than half a century of American history is obviously not as important to Trump as proving that he can do anything he wants on a whim.
Air Force One, with its’ current design, has been immortalized with in history, at these significant moments, along with many others:
- When JFK landed in Germany to speak at the Berlin Wall
- When Richard Nixon flew to China
- When Ronald Reagan went to meet Gorbachev in Iceland
The deal will cost just under $4 billion. The catch: Trump may only get to use the redesigned planes if he’s re-elected. The planes are expected to be airborne by 2021, perhaps indicating that Trump believes he will be around for a second term.
Further proof that nothing is sacred and nothing is safe to not be impulsively discarded by this President.
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14 July 2018: Correction made to reflect that Air Force One has an existing medical facility, executive space, secure communication suite and self-defense system and only improvements are being made. Previous version of the story incorrectly stated that these were to be added.
