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A $400 Million Jet and the Price of a Nation’s Dignity
Trump’s Qatari joyride isn’t diplomacy – it’s a bribe with wings.
Let’s stop calling it what it’s not.
Donald Trump didn’t “secure a diplomatic aircraft partnership” with Qatar. He accepted a luxury jet worth nearly half a billion dollars from a foreign monarchy while posing as a man of the people. That’s not leadership. That’s corruption in first class.
Imagine for a moment that Barack Obama had accepted a gold-trimmed private jet from a wealthy Gulf state while preparing for reelection. Fox News would be in flames. Congressional hearings would erupt. Hannity would lose his voice. But because Trump did it – and because we’ve all been conditioned to his carnival of grift – it barely blips above the noise.
Let me say it plainly: a former president accepting a $400 million jet from a dictatorship is not normal. It is not patriotic. It is not legal. And it damn sure isn’t free.
Qatar isn’t giving Trump this jet because they think he’s fun at parties. They’re not buying influence. They’re cashing in on it. Trump has already proven he’s for sale – from the Saudis to the Emiratis to the highest bidder with enough runway space. This latest extravagance isn’t a gift. It’s a down payment.
