Summary

Trump lashed out at bipartisan critics after reports revealed he plans to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One.

In a Truth Social post, Trump dismissed concerns as “world class losers” complaining about a transparent gift. Qatar stated the plane is under legal review between its Ministry of Defense and the Pentagon.

Critics, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Chris Murphy, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, accused Trump of corruption and violating the Constitution.

Even allies like Laura Loomer led the MAGA pushback to the jet deal.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    Besides the obvious corruption, it’s a national security issue. I’m not an aircraft designer, but I’m pretty sure there’s quite a bit of electronics aboard that craft. Pretty easy to slip in a few listening devices.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        6 hours ago

        The more you think about it, the stupider the idea is.

        Besides the obvious security problems, Air Force 1 is to a regular plane what a Formula One racer is to a regular car. Someone else pointed out things like counter-surveillance measures, refueling, etc etc.

        It would be twice as expensive to retrofit it.

        • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          Air Force 1 is to a regular plane what a Formula One racer is to a regular car

          Achshually. Air Force 1 is used to refer to any Air Force aircraft the president travels on. That’s why it’s taken off more times than it’s landed.

    • Dultas@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Not to mention the refit to include all the secure communication equipment Air Force One has. Also ECM, active countermeasures, NBC equipment, refuelling, etc.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        6 hours ago

        Realistically, it would probably cost more to retrofit a plane than to just build it from scratch.

        • Dultas@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Because that’s the station The Apprentice was on. /s

          Incase people don’t know NBC stands for Nuclear, Biological, Chemical.

    • caffinatedone@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      To be fair, the trump crew don’t observe any real security anyway, so all of the more competent competent competitors likely already know our secrets.

      I mean, assuming that trump doesn’t just tweet them out, he’d absolutely sell our secrets for some graft.

      • Bouzou@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Or members of his cabinet just accidentally add foreign agents to classified chats…

    • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 hours ago

      I’m sure Qatar sees him saying “yeah, then it’ll be mine” and are thinking ‘nooo, we wanted all the presidents to use it…’

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Then you’re not up to speed…

        January 2029 it transfers to the “trump presidential library” so he can keep using it.

        It’s not even to “the office” it’s a personal gift to trump.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            It’s the same country that was/is bribing Eric Adams…

            They have so much oil money (exported 24 billion worth in 2022) that they just throw money at anyone that will take it.

            400 million just isn’t that much money to them where they need to have an immediate payout.

            They’re in the top 10 wealthiest royal families, and that’s just what legal money is on the books