Donald Trump defends gift of 747 jet from Qatar as new Air Force One

Great example of the problem with 'traditional' journalism/media.
It doesn't "raise ethical concerns." No rational person would say "Gee, I wonder if that's an ethical violation."
It is very clearly an ethical breach and bribery.
I'm also shocked at the limited reporting asking why a government would give a $400 million plane as a 'gift.'
- Maybe the ashtrays were full?
  Or, yes, bribery. I suppose it makes more sense.
- I call 99% of all media “Corporate Media” as it is owned by all the billionaires and they print what their billionaire overlords tell them to.

Can anyone tell me what happens to a country that 100% stops giving a shit about its founding document that was adopted to give average citizens rights and political power?
Because this country doesn't give a fuuuuuuuuuck about its Constitution anymore and that's the precedent now. And all the bad actors out there with enough money to run presidential campaigns know it.
- No rules for daddy party. Mommy party would still be held to certain standards
- I think there are plenty of people that give a fuck about the constitution, but we need to really start thinking about what makes a country. Is it the people or an executive cabinet?
  I am about 90% sure the heritage foundation has had this planned since the 80s, and used Post Soviet Russia as a test run. Here is more information about why I believe that if you're interested
  It's a question of who really wants us to become an officially privatized corporation? Even if we have no say in that, we should ask why we are being treated as consumers of their product?
  They seem to have no plans to stop taxing poor people, so either we stop paying federal and state taxes and only invest in our local communities, or we start acting like angry shareholders fed up with how the board is running the company.
- They seem to be trying to emulate Russia, Hungary, or even Nazi Germany. So probably similar things. The US tech oligarchs seem to want something like Dark Enlightenment, while the other politically powerful sect seems to want christo-fascism; all seem to be white nationalist to varying degrees.

I hope they do the entire world a favor and crash it remotely

"Concerns". They're just constantly minimizing the legal violations he's making like it's something that could possibly be problematic rather than just a blatant disregard for our governmental rules.
- It's the language they use with the powerful, along with the pretension everything must have two equally presented sides. Ironically, this approach is now quickly nearing the time when most major news outlets have either been subsumed into corporate or government parroting and the ability to actually truly even tell one side of the story, let alone two, will have vanished because they will just print what is approved.
  
  Do you actually believe that the press would frame it anywhere near this way if Biden had tried to do something so blatantly corrupt?

What are the chances this plane, being a Boeing, will have major safety issues?
- The 747 doesn't have that bad a safety record. I'm more interested in what random radio transmissions occur from it.

Like he “defended” it like he used his strength and skills to keep attackers at bay?
Or he defended his blatant corruption with word salad mumbo jumbo?
I won’t read the article I’ll just guess at which one.
- It didn't say he successfully defended them.

Still gonna cal it con-air
- Air Felon One

Accepting a gift like that and flaunting it is a grave disrespect to the millions of Americans trying to make ends meet. A President should be diplomatic and not easy to bend over when they hear the word gift. I am almost sure that Qatar did something to that plane. Not that I will mind all that much, but for a party that is big on national security... this is just a joke.
- America elected a kleptocrat. He's doing what he was elected to do. Rob the country blind and transition into a mafia state like Russia.

What is completely corrupt piece of human shit like him to do but take he bribe.

A foreign nation gifts us a plane and Donnie makes it air force one.
Has he never heard of a Trojan horse?
- The Trojan horse was a great gift, a great gift for beautiful people. But the people giving the gift were beautiful too. Great folks on both sides. I mean just look at it, the horse, look at it, it's got wood, and it's so tall. I was there, people were telling me, Mr Trump, look, look Mr Trump, that horse is so beautiful. It was so beautiful, people were crying. Sobbing. Thanking me. They had never seen such a beautiful horse. Have you ever seen such a beautiful horse? I thought of seabiscuit. I love seabiscuit. They tell me it's such a beautiful movie. But you know what I say? See biscuit, eat biscuit. What a lovely biscuit.
  
  Biscuits. I am in tears, that was hilarious and I needed that. Thank you.
- You mean the condom? Never used those.
  
  How you got down voted for an excellent joke, I do not know.
- I would be pretty confident saying no, he has not.
- Reminds me of this bit of history:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
- Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

That will be the safest plane in the sky. Where else are foreign governments going to find an imbecile as easily manipulated as Trump? They must keep him safe.
On the other hand, I hope they installed a spy cam in the bathrooms. Trump on a changing table while his aides tend his diapers would be hilarious.
- It would be the safest for the Qataris. Hidden backdoors, fully loaded with surveillance equipment, ability to control the plane from their equipment.
  
  Maybe they'll fly it into a volcano. Hopefully when he's entertaining all the tech oligarches and his flunkies together aboard.
  
  The idea of Air Force One being a gift from a foreign government, let alone Qatar, sounds like a horror story spies tell each other around the campfire.

Come on, the king should be able to accept a gift from a foreign country. He is the king right.

Well if it's a Boeing, this might work out well for everyone.
- Air Force One is a Boeing already.
  
  Air Force One is whatever plane he steps onto.
  But the planes Air Force One normally flies as is very customized for the president, VC-25, a variant of the 747-200. It ain't falling apart mid-flight.
  This Qatari one? It totally could. And I'll bet the only reason he wants it is because it has a golden toilet.
- The actual AF1 is a Boeing as well, and has been since forever.
  
  This is a plane from the before times when Boeing made decisions based on engineering and science instead of cost cutting. I assume? From 1990 it says on the wiki.

Doesn't the real Air Force One have a wide array of highly specialized equipment and systems that allows it to act as a highly survivable command center in all situations? Things like encrypted communications arrays, air refueling capability, self defense systems and electronic warfare systems to name a few.
That fancy airplane they're giving as a blatant bribe has none of those things. It's just kitted out with useless bougie crap for rich cunts to show off.
- And for it to become AF1, I would think it would need to be completely disassembled down to the rivets to make sure it’s not compromised. Even then, do we trust the integrity of the materials in it?
  It’s not even possible for this place to become AF1.
  
  It's definitely not possible to get this plane to the integrity of AF1, but he can definitely call it AF1 all he wants.
  
  Ship of Theseus Force One
  
  It is AF1 as soon as he flies on it.
- ...honestly when you put it that way, using shiny shit to keep Trump distracted from important shit is the second-best way to handle him; and using shiny shit to keep him isolated from tactically capable shit makes Trump more vulnerable to the best way to handle him.
- Good. If we're lucky, it'll fail catastrophically somewhere safely over the ocean.
  
  Right over the CPAC conference would be better.
- IIRC there is no dedicated „Air Force One“. It’s just whatever plane the POTUS happens to be on. Of course usually that boils down to very specific few aircrafts, but if he boards the bribe-jet, this would be „Air Force One“ at that point.
  Edit: I just checked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_One
- Yes

I hope it's a Boeing.
- …what else would a 747 be?
  
  Knockoff Airbus?

Guys! Shut up! This could be the gift! Sure those people are evil and have slaves. But maybe this 747 is an old version with the special reset button? You know the one that makes vertical flight into horizontal again? And maybe they removed the button for funcies? I would just wait and see what happens. Maybe they just rigg...fix it such that every flight includes a katar landing?

the Qataris purchased it from the US... facepalm

No paywall.

I don’t understand the presidential library stuff (because I’m not from the US), does he get to keep the plane or does the next president get it?
- Most foreign official gifts which the President and First Lady do not retain for themselves are transferred to the National Archives by the Gift Unit, and become part of a presidential library museum collection.
  Any foreign gift that is of substantial value is considered a gift to "the people of the USA", not it's president, so if the president wants to keep it they must purchase it.
  They're trying to find loopholes to this rule by transferring it this way or that way, so Trump can keep it, despite it being clearly against the law.
  
  But why does it say Trump's presidential Library. Does he have his own or renamed it.
  
  Followed by: "well it's my library, so I and my kids should be allowed to check things out when we want to"
  
  Furthermore, they are trying to make use of the precedent that a prior plane used as Air Force One was donated to Reagan's library. But that was done after new planes were in use, and it went there as a museum piece.
- It's an archive, or sometimes a museum. It remains government property.
  https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries
  Or in Trump's case maybe they'd open a casino..

I dont understand why people are upset about this compare to the serious stuff he is doing.
Getting money from foreign countries is how the USA government work. And that why we have the mess in the middle east.
Israel purchase almost all of congress, and get tax money back for it, along with letting US soldier fight for them ( Iraq , Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and now maybe Iran)
People should direct their outrage to how lobbying and inside trading is happening because that what got you trump in the first place.
- I'm outraged about both. Most here can walk and chew gum.