# The Qatari jet **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 17, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142 "2026-05-17T13:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/1 "2026-05-17T13:09:17Z")
Okay, Qatar gives trump this huge white elephant. Now, for some reason it’s necessary to tear it down to the skin for retrofitting to the tune of at least a billion dollars. The idea is to make it a safe and secure Air Force One. We already have new AF1 planes being built that should be on line before this monstrosity is rebuilt. I hope the next guy isn’t going to want to embarrass himself by flying the Qutar jet. If they gave it to trump, let him fly around in it after he’s out of office, it doesn’t need to be secure. The damn thing will probably just become a prop in his library anyway. Why are tax dollars being spent on this thing? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/2 "2026-05-17T13:51:40Z")
As long as there is decent WIFI in the toilet, Trump will be fine with that. As for the inevitable recording devices hidden in the aeroplane, I pity the the Qatari intelligence service who will hear things no human should have to endure. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/3 "2026-05-17T14:03:43Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I hope the next guy isn’t going to want to embarrass himself by flying the Qutar jet. IIRC Trump has already stated that he intends to keep it. I think he considers it a gift to HIM not to the president/office. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > If they gave it to trump, let him fly around in it after he’s out of office, it doesn’t need to be secure I don’t know how much he cares about the security once he’s out of office (or while he’s in office, for that matter), but it would have to be secure while he’s POTUS and I’m guessing he’s using that as the excuse to redo the entire plane on the tax payer’s dime. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Why are tax dollars being spent on this thing? That’s, like, his whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/4 "2026-05-17T14:09:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > it would have to be secure while he’s POTUS and I’m guessing he’s using that as the excuse to redo the entire plane on the tax payer’s dime That’s the thing, they’ll redo the plane, and it won’t be done while he’s in office anyway. It’s fucking farsical. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/5 "2026-05-17T14:17:58Z")
Well, yeah, but that’s been his plan the entire time. If, when he was given the plane and said he intended to keep it, he was told that since it’s going to be his personal plane, he can’t use it until he’s out of office and all the expenses associated with it he’d have to pay personally, he would’ve come up with some excuse not to take it. Come to think of it, I’m surprised he didn’t try to get Trump Force One redone on the taxpayer’s dime as well. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/6 "2026-05-17T14:18:56Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That’s the thing, they’ll redo the plane, and it won’t be done while he’s in office anyway. I like this. When Trump asks for his plane we can give him a stripped airframe and boxes and boxes of parts. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/7 "2026-05-17T14:24:52Z")
I like this idea. A jigsaw puzzle that he won’t be able to compel Boeing engineers to put back together. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/8 "2026-05-17T15:58:37Z")
Don’t forget the onboard ICU: he’ll probably need it, assuming he lives long enough to take possession. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/9 "2026-05-17T17:17:00Z")
Maybe it should be turned into his library. Where thousands of people can look at his ‘Truths’ and just be heard saying ‘What an asshole’, over and over and over again. Pipe it into his prison cell. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/10 "2026-05-17T20:05:17Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I think he considers it a gift to HIM not to the president/office. Doesn’t that mean it can be taxed? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/11 "2026-05-17T20:07:58Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if the plan, from the get-go, was to slow leak the renovations while prioritizing non-classified tasks first, then abandoning the project as his term winds down while keeping it airworthy, then leveraging a bunch of debt on it. The Art of the Chump 101. _The Art of the Chump_, I hereby gift this title to any historian that wants to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/12 "2026-05-18T00:32:43Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Doesn’t that mean it can be taxed? Sure, just like contractors can bill him for work they do. It’s not like it matters. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/13 "2026-05-18T01:50:49Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That’s the thing, they’ll redo the plane, and it won’t be done while he’s in office anyway. It’s almost ready: [https://www.npr.org/2026/05/02/g-s1-119866/trump-new-air-force-one](https://www.npr.org/2026/05/02/g-s1-119866/trump-new-air-force-one) I guess once they found the first listening device, they stopped looking for others. That probably saved a lot of time. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/14 "2026-05-18T03:52:27Z")
So I’ve not heard of this jet recently. Did trump get bored of it and it’s sitting rotting away in a hanger somewhere (at huge expense to the tax payer). Or did media attention just move on to the next bit of treasonous fascist corruption while this travesty continues apace? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/15 "2026-05-18T16:22:31Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > It’s almost ready So I guess it is the latter (the media just moved onto to the next treason-du-jour and while this bs just continued apace ☹ ) TBH it’s quite fitting that all this cult of the (awful) personality bs will be in place for the “America 250” celebration. It’s making it clear to anyone who hasn’t been paying attention that this occasionally quite successful 250 year experiment with democratic republican rule is coming to an end. What could be a more on the nose statement of that, than our president flying round in a flying palace provided as a personal gift by a corrupt middle eastern monarch? ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/16 "2026-05-18T16:32:34Z")
It was always his plan from the start that this would be “his” Air Force One, and that it would be donated to his library at the end of his term. I read recently that he intends to keep the same “royal interior” that suits his tastes. This is probably the primary reason he wants this plane - the gaudy interior that makes him feel like a king. The plane won’t just be sitting at his library either, he fully intends to use it as his personal plane should he ever not be President anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/17 "2026-05-18T16:33:09Z")
Emolu_what_? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/18 "2026-06-21T18:01:14Z")
[Trump showed off the jet on Friday](https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-unveil-qatari-donated-747-serve-air-force/story?id=134040929). Supposedly the plane has received the modifications necessary to transport the POTUS. It’s supposed to undergo commissioning flights first though. And apparently since this plane is larger than previous Air Force One planes, a new hangar was needed. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/19 "2026-06-21T19:29:13Z")
Nothing feels safer than flying in a free airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142/20 "2026-06-21T19:49:44Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > The plane won’t just be sitting at his library either, he fully intends to use it as his personal plane should he ever not be President anymore. I wonder if, every time he wants to take a ride in it, he’d be escorted by fighter jets? It would be funny if no country on Earth allowed him to land, once they weren’t obliged to host him as president. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-qatari-jet/1030142.md?page=2)