It will be nine years ago next month when Donald Trump, in his first year as president, publicly condemned Qatar as a country he said was a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.” Asked about those comments last fall, the Republican told reporters, in reference to Qatari officials, “In 2017, I didn’t really know them very well.”
In other words, by Trump’s own telling, he didn’t really know what he was talking about. Now, however, he has a new perspective, because he “got to know them.”
In fact, by all appearances, he got to know them quite well. Over the last year, the incumbent president has been quite eager to sing the Middle Eastern country’s praises, and the push hasn’t been limited to flattering rhetoric: In October, Trump unilaterally extended a NATO-like security guarantee to Qatar.
The Associated Press reported last month, meanwhile, that a Trump golf club and villa project is being developed in Qatar, thanks in part to an investment from a company owned by the Qatari government. This followed Trump administration confirmation that U.S. officials have parked revenue from Venezuelan oil sales in a Qatari bank for reasons that have never been fully explained, which followed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the United States will host a Qatari air force training facility at an Idaho air base.
And then, of course, there’s the superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet. The Associated Press reported:
The U.S. Air Force has finished modifying and testing a Boeing 747 jet donated by Qatar for temporary use as Air Force One and expects to have it ready for President Donald Trump to use this summer, the service announced late Friday.
The jet is currently being painted red, white and blue, the Air Force said in a news release.
This dovetails with the latest reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which added that the plane’s lavish interior will look “remarkably similar” to the furnishings first chosen for the Qatari royal family.
“The jet has undergone a $400 million overhaul to prepare it for the president,” the Journal reported. “Those modifications, however, haven’t centered on aesthetics, but rather top-secret communications gear that would enable the commander in chief to run the country from the skies. Alterations to the interior have focused on removing the Arabic-language exit signs and the contemporary artwork once enjoyed by the Qatari royals. But the oversize leather seats, plush couches and even the faux library bookcases are all staying, albeit with U.S. presidential seals now affixed to the walls, officials said.”
One year ago next week, NBC News reported that converting the luxury jet to presidential use would “take years to complete.” A year later, however, the Trump administration let the public know that Trump will start using it over the summer despite all of the ethical, political, legal and practical concerns that have long dogged the entire endeavor.
The New York Times reported last September that members of Congress from both parties had expressed concern that Trump would pressure the Air Force to complete security modifications too quickly, adding that the upgrade would take two years to complete.
As that timeline gets cut in half, expect those earlier questions to get a lot louder.
As for the future of the luxury jet, the AP’s report noted that Trump has said he won’t fly around in the Qatari jet after leaving office, but he would feature it in his future presidential library. Watch this space.
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