# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/81 "2025-05-13T19:41:51Z")
Laura Loomer is not pleased. > **[Free ride: Allies, even Laura Loomer, turn on President Trump for accepting...](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/free-ride-allies-even-laura-loomer-turn-president-trump-accepting-luxury-jet-from-qatar.amp)** > > President Trump says he'll accept a $400 million 747 from Qatar – and he's just about the only one who appears all too thrilled by the decision. Finally a bridge too far? I predict he will not accept and say he was never really considering it, just being polite by not turning it down right away. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/82 "2025-05-13T21:06:09Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He wants this thing because the Orange Man-child is too impatient to wait for the new planes from Boeing. It’s worse than that. The plane is supposed to become part of his presidential library when he leaves office. It will still be property of the federal government (all the materials of presidential libraries are), but I’m sure he expects that he’ll continue to use it as a private plane. That is, this “gift” to the federal government is really a gift to him that he won’t have to pay taxes on. And of course, Qatar is getting something out of this. There could be a specific quid pro quo, but even if there isn’t, they’re buying influence. It’s a $400 million bribe. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/83 "2025-05-13T21:48:24Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > I predict he will not accept and say he was never really considering it, just being polite by not turning it down right away. More likely, under the bus with Laura! 🚍 Or a sharp reprimand anyway. ---
**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 13, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/84 "2025-05-13T21:55:39Z")
Who is Laura Loomer that she has such influence? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/85 "2025-05-13T22:02:40Z")
Best outcome is that Hegseth takes it for a spin on a taxiway and runs into a hangar. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/86 "2025-05-13T22:04:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > …and the only use of an “Executive One” jet was Nixon doing a PR stunt in 1973. Though presumably those would be the applicable monikers if such a situation ever arose again. I have a sort-of recollection of Carter doing Executive One once or twice upon a time, which sounds very like Carter, but I’m not sure it actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/87 "2025-05-13T22:05:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is there a reason the [Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-10/chapter-X/part-1050) does not apply here? As I’ve stated above, I suspect that officially the plane will go to the Office of the President, not Trump himself. What happens to it on January 20, 2029 we can only guess at. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/88 "2025-05-13T22:17:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Who is Laura Loomer that she has such influence? Crazy Republicans, pardon the redundancy, who have podcasts or websites, they run the show now. Them, and Faux News bobbleheads. ---
**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 13, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/89 "2025-05-13T22:59:08Z")
I get who she is, but given Trump’s willingness to ignore all norms and conventions, why does he back down when someone like her expresses an opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/90 "2025-05-13T23:40:39Z")
I don’t think he cares about her. But she is one of the bellwethers of the most fanatical MAGA core. He needs them to stay fully faithful to maintain the rabid undercurrent (more current than under) of threatening violent reprisal that makes people reluctant to resist, if not outright compliant. Plus, he’ll need to deploy them when he attempts to install himself for another term. If he loses Laura, he loses them, or so he fears. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/91 "2025-05-13T23:59:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > why does he back down when someone like her expresses an opinion? Did he back down? ---
**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 14, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/92 "2025-05-14T00:09:43Z")
Not yet in this case. However, on April 3, 2025, the New York Times ran an [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/us/politics/trump-meeting-laura-loomer.html) that begins, “President Trump fired six National Security Council officials after an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office with the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who laid out a list of people she believed were disloyal to the president, U.S. officials said on Thursday.” So clearly she has influence. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/93 "2025-05-14T00:23:32Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Best outcome is that Hegseth takes it for a spin on a taxiway and runs into a hangar. Can we arrange to have it fall off of an aircraft carrier instead? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/94 "2025-05-14T00:44:37Z")
It’s a good thing none of the Trumps have any business deals in Qatar or nearby! ---
**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 14, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/95 "2025-05-14T00:53:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Who is Laura Loomer that she has such influence? Are you kidding? She has prominently featured in Trump’s decisions for the last couple of years and and has been within his orbit of advisors since before he took office. She is routinely mentioned in some of the more bizarre things Trump has done such as [capriciously firing the leadership at the National Security Agency and the US Cyber Command](https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-security-agency-tim-haugh-ec08b455e2c1112f5c6bb1881fad73e2). > **[A look at Laura Loomer, longtime Trump ally criticized for racist posts and...](https://apnews.com/article/who-is-laura-loomer-trump-national-security-council-f7bc493ae99014362875e5d390769477)** > > Laura Loomer, a right-wing personality known for her incendiary social media presence, appeared to have President Donald Trump's ear again. > _Loomer, 31, has been involved in politics as an advocate of Trump. She [twice unsuccessfully ran for Congress](https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-religion-7262e6c6301601457d32b4af55cefcfc) in 2020 and 2022 in South Florida and had been known for staging protests including handcuffing herself to a Twitter office after the service banned her and jumping a fence at a home owned by House Speaker [Nancy Pelosi](https://apnews.com/hub/nancy-pelosi). She says she was invited to Mar-a-Lago after leading attacks against Florida Gov. [Ron DeSantis](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-florida-desantis-homan-fort-myers-c5a7e4f72906c5aa2712b7715812b993), who was preparing to challenge Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary._ > > _Last year, Loomer [accompanied Trump](https://apnews.com/article/laura-loomer-trump-911-conspiracy-theories-18198b8ea2ce567467acfd6bf7f19f1e) on his 9/11 travels in New York and Pennsylvania and was also seen walking out of the plane the previous day after Trump landed in Philadelphia to debate his electoral opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Loomer said she was invited those days as a guest._ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/96 "2025-05-14T02:31:55Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > I predict he will not accept and say he was never really considering it, just being polite by not turning it down right away. That’s a good guess. Since Trump is some kind of Russian semi-asset, and his primary adversaries are Panama, Canada, and Denmark/Greenland, normal Air Force One security features are unnecessary. But he cannot admit that. ---
**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 14, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/97 "2025-05-14T02:57:59Z")
Don’t underestimate the Danes. They’re more clever than they look. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/98 "2025-05-14T12:46:25Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > I don’t think he cares about her. But she is one of the bellwethers of the most fanatical MAGA core. He needs them to stay fully faithful to maintain the rabid undercurrent (more current than under) of threatening violent reprisal that makes people reluctant to resist, if not outright compliant. Plus, he’ll need to deploy them when he attempts to install himself for another term. If he loses Laura, he loses them, or so he fears. This is what I’ve been wondering. Is Loomer a canary in the coalmine for trump’s MAGA support? And will the acceptance of the Qatar 747 be the final straw for trump’s MAGA support? And why does it feel like I’ve asked “will (X) be the final straw for trump’s MAGA support?” many, many times before, both here and in my own head? It seems like trump is even more unhinged from reality than ever, though. He is making increasingly bizarre descisions, even for him, and I’m starting to suspect that he no longer cares much about his MAGA support. He lives in an impenetrable bubble of yes-men (and women) and seems to only care about getting obsequious praise and worship from his inner circle. I think part of him accepts that a third term will never happen, so it’s not like he needs the MAGA core anyway (I know, politically he still needs it to have the political capital to keep his Congress toadies afraid of being primaried, but I don’t think trump puts that much thought into it). Or maybe it’s that he’s just not able to plan for the future in a way that allows him to have the discipline to put off what he really wants to do, like the kid gobbling down the marshmallow, not able to wait it out for two in the future. Also, side note: I always thought Qatar was pronounced ‘kah-TAR’, but lately I’ve been hearing it pronounced more like ‘cutter’. Which is more correct? > **[Even MAGA influencers are decrying Trump’s plan to take a $400 million jet...](https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-qatar-plane-maga-influencers-laura-loomer-ben-shapiro-rcna206467)** > > Trump’s plan to accept a luxury jet as a gift from the Qatari royal family has led to broad criticism — including from the MAGA faithful. ---
**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 14, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/99 "2025-05-14T12:57:57Z")
She seems to be an equine Rasputin. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256/100 "2025-05-14T13:20:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > lately I’ve been hearing it pronounced more like ‘cutter’ I worked with a fellow from Qatar— he said it’s pronounced like “cutter.” Although there was more nuance, it’s not “kah-tar”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-going-to-use-a-gifted-foreign-aircraft-as-air-force-one/1018256.md?page=6)