# Trump is going to use a gifted foreign aircraft as Air Force One **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 11, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256 "2025-05-11T17:23:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/41 "2025-05-12T13:47:22Z")
What I see in the floating of this proposal is that to Trumpworld’s mind, (1) the Presidential Airplane is just the world’s fanciest most bestest executive plane, so (2) why TF is Boeing wasting everyone’s time and money taking this long to convert two already existing airframes, and (3) if someone else already has that fanciest most bestest executive jet kitted out and wants to give it to us, why not? Though, frankly, item (2) up there _ **is** _ something that may be agreed on or at least fairly argued about by sensible people. So this really sounds more like a play to shake down Boeing while they’re already hurting… “those ten years of work at a loss? \*&^%$ deliver already or EAT IT.” ---
**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:** [May 12, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/42 "2025-05-12T15:16:15Z")
Except that this plne is only available until the end of the Trump administration. By then the real planes should be ready ---
**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 12, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/43 "2025-05-12T15:38:01Z")
Didn’t he excrete a couple of coffee table books? That’s a whole fucking wing right there! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/44 "2025-05-12T15:52:47Z")
He can include the collected works of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Kelby2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@Kelby2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby2)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/45 "2025-05-12T16:45:30Z")
> [@RadioWave](#): > > Serious question… What does Qatar want from Trump that’s worth 400 million? Isn’t Trump planning to build an exclusive golf resort there? ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/46 "2025-05-12T17:09:38Z")
This is one of the craziest and most debased Trumpian moves yet. Not in terms of gravity or impact, but the sheer embarrassment and stupidity cannot be overstated. Most of his other questionable decisions fall under the policy-making umbrella but this is a pure grift, buying of favors, an embarrassment to the US and huge security risk. Even his most fanatical supporters are having a hard time getting behind this shitshow. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/47 "2025-05-12T22:48:27Z")
> [@Kelby2](#): > > > [@RadioWave](#): > > > > Serious question… What does Qatar want from Trump that’s worth 400 million? > > Isn’t Trump planning to build an exclusive golf resort there? Yes. [Trump Organization strikes deal for luxury golf resort in Qatar | AP News](https://apnews.com/article/trump-qatar-deal-conflicts-saudi-arabia-emoluments-7379bee2e307d39bd43b534a05ae3207) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/48 "2025-05-12T23:05:34Z")
When I was a Fed, someone requesting assistance at the front desk of the agency where I worked once brought me a homemade mix tape as a thank you. I got crap even for that. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/49 "2025-05-12T23:19:19Z")
How is Trump taking an airplane as a personal gift any different than the democrat politician (forget his name) taking gold bars and cash? Didn’t that guy get like a decade in prison? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/50 "2025-05-12T23:20:08Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > How is Trump taking an airplane as a personal gift any different than the democrat politician (forget his name) taking gold bars and cash? Remember who controls the DOJ and I think you have your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/51 "2025-05-13T00:16:43Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > One better hope that airplane is thoroughly swept and checked for listening bugs/devices. That is standard practice now: > **[The Thing (listening device)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device))** > > The Thing, also known as the Great Seal bug, was one of the first covert listening devices (or "bugs") to use passive techniques to transmit an audio signal. It was concealed inside a gift given by the Soviet Union to W. Averell Harriman, the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on August 4, 1945. Because it was passive, needing electromagnetic energy from an outside source to become energized and active, it is considered a predecessor of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.... Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/52 "2025-05-13T00:27:22Z")
If Sam Snead can accept a golf gimme, surely Trump would be foolish to refuse such a generous grift. I even heard the plane was built by Epeius, a master carpenter and pugilist from Ancient Troy. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/53 "2025-05-13T00:32:25Z")
Maybe if the tape was “store bought” the issue of “piracy” wouldn’t have come up. 🤑 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/54 "2025-05-13T00:33:28Z")
I’ll just leave this here: > **[Trump Loses His Mind Over Pushback to Qatar Jet Deal](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-loses-his-mind-over-pushback-to-his-qatar-jet-deal/)** > > The president is planning to accept a Boeing 747-8 jet from the country and use it as a new Air Force One. > But the president called those who questioned the ethical implications of such a massive gift “world class losers” in a scathing statement. > > “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump penned on Truth Social. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.” ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/55 "2025-05-13T00:36:19Z")
Tell me where it’s possible to find “store-bought” tapes of classic Balkan dance music of the 1940s - 1980s in Chicago, and you might have a point. (The gentleman is question was helping his soon-to-be in-laws, who were from Bulgaria. We got to talking while I was explaining how another government agency had screwed up their immigration case, and that was his thank you.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/56 "2025-05-13T00:39:26Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > the democrat politician (forget his name) taking gold bars and cash? Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. And, as noted, and as regularly comes up on this board when pointing out Trump/Republican hypocrisy: IOKWARDI. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/57 "2025-05-13T01:17:30Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump penned on Truth Social. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.” So Trump is saying that accepting the gift from Qatar will save the American government money. It’s a false argument. Trump will take the bribe from Qatar but will still steal as much money as he can from the American government. > **[Oversight Democrats’ New Report Proves Trump Used His D.C. Hotel to Take...](https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/oversight-democrats-new-report-proves-trump-used-his-dc-hotel-take)** > > Washington, D.C. (October 18, 2024)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, released a new staff report revealing how, while he was in office, Donald Trump used the Trump International Hotel in... ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/58 "2025-05-13T01:42:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The big grift here is that the plane will be donated to the Trump “library” prior to his leaving office, where I’m assuming he can sell it for millions. I’m also assuming that his “library” contains no actual tomes. No books, but there are classified documents in the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/59 "2025-05-13T02:14:35Z")
> **[https://preview.redd.it/br9u9j5y9g0f1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=69f7191c1f8b1507728d9...](https://preview.redd.it/br9u9j5y9g0f1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=69f7191c1f8b1507728d9c58e979603189d3ef34)** ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/60 "2025-05-13T02:16:53Z")
Huh. Are the throw pillows velcroed to the couches in case of turbulence? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256.md?page=4)