The dumbassery of a 747
Hopefully life won’t overtake this – I am traveling this weekend so writing is taking place early. We’ll see if what I do Tuesday lasts till Friday!
Oh, Lord, everyone is making noise about Qatar’s gift of a luxo 747 to serve as Air Force One. Trump is hailing it as a wonderful gift:
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!” AP News
Meanwhile Chuckie Schumer is taking a page from Tommy Tuberville’s temporary temper tantrum tactic and putting a hold on all DOJ appointments approvals until he gets to the bottom of thisa hyar airplane deal.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said that he is halting Department of Justice political nominations in protest of President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar.
Schumer called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify before Congress to “explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the Emoluments Clause.” NBC New York
Well, Chuck, you would have a ginormous point…if the plane were to be gifted to Mr. Trump. However, it is being gifted to the GOVERNMENT and then repurposed afterwards to be gifted to the Trump Presidential Library. It’s a minor distinction, perhaps, but it means it is not a gift to the President, hence probably does not run afoul of the Emoluments Clause. Geez, Chuckie, if you want to go after your former constituent for that clause, you should look into his memecoin transactions – that one is a lot closer to fitting. Besides, while Trump is giddy at having a soi-disant $100,000,000 ‘flying palace’, maybe he should look at it it through a different lens. Namely, it’s damn near a crime. Ever hear of a white elephant?
In the old days, when governments gave hideously expensive gifts to other governments, the worst of all gifts was a rare albino elephant. Why? You couldn’t insult the donor by turning it into elephant steaks, a few umbrella holders, and a set of billiards balls – you had to keep it alive, feed it hundreds of pounds of expensive feed every day – damn thing was like a 4 bore elephant gun, costly at BOTH ends.
Yes, this 747 is ultra luxurious – Qatar bought two of them at the same time with all that oil money we American consumers insist on throwing at them. Fit for a king…and they value them so much they already gave one to Turkey (who doesn’t apparently have an Emoluments Clause) and are seeking to give this one, (supposedly barely broken in with only a thousand or so hours on it) to us. And what will we do with it?
We’re gonna throw money at it. Lots and lots of money.
Owned by a foreign government – first the lads are going to have to do a security sweep, which given the sophistication of today’s electronic devices, may require almost a component-level teardown. Ah, what lovely paneling…now rip it out and check for bugs. Imagine that on a 747 scale. Nice seat leather ya got there? Corinthian? Or Intel? Every piece of the plane big enough to hide a bug is going to have to be examined. And that is for openers.
EMP – Air Force One is supposedly EMP hardened. Think Boeing did that for Qatar? I am guessing ‘no’. Communications – for the Bribejet (kinda like that term) plane to be used as Air Force One it needs the full communications suite the President is required to take with. Long, expensive install. Heck, one of the reasons the actual Air Force Ones are taking so long is because they require all these things – and it’s always easier to build them in than to refit. Anyone who has ever upgraded even a car can swear to that. And how long would this take? How long will parts be available? Boeing took 747s out of production a couple of years ago, and it’s not exactly as easy to get parts for planes as it is for your classic Chevelle.
And of course there is the money…we are already buying a couple of Air Force Ones (which Boeing is seriously behind on). Gonna be hard to justify an expensive refit, a military parade. and two National Command Authority Air Force Ones to the public – and ultimately to the Congress which has to vote for all the funding. In a world of DOGE and widespread job cuts, funding all of this will be characterized as rank hypocrisy – and I would bet plenty of Congresscritters would hear from angry constituents about it.
Let’s see – hideously expensive, guaranteed to upset a bunch of the country, possibly monitorable… heck, this plane is damn near an act of war!
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Air Force, None, Reality Check, Trump!
Maintenance and USSS agents get paid whether they’re inspecting a bird or not. Hardly a white elephant.
The Trump Presidential Library will not be owned by Donald Trump and its collections will not be available for his private/personal use. All Presidential Libraries since Mr. Hoover established the ongoing tradition belong to the American people and are managed by NARA.
I’m fairly certain that “Air Force – 1” is the designated callsign for whatever fixed wing the President happens to be aboard, not just one of the two ancient 737s currently on the books.
I’d be surprised if there isn’t a significant degree of EMP protection on a bird commissioned by the Emir.
It’s NG money, not oil, that gives Qatar its wealth.
747 Parts are among the easiest to find because so many were made and plenty of new parts are still being made. Recently the Air Force stated that they have no need to stockpile parts for them due to their easy availability.
Let’s talk about gift giving in the Middle East and Arab culture in particular. You turn down a gift at great risk of insulting the giver. Somehow in the mix was lost that the Qatari’s just ordered 210 Boeing wide body jets in a deal worth over a hundred billion dollars and the Democrats want to insult Qatar and sour the deal. They don’t give a single fuk about American workers and would rather sink a mega deal than give Trump any credit for all the brokering he has been doing the last few months. They want America to fail, they NEED America to fail to advance their agenda.
Now they are being assholes just to be assholes. They have been “that guy” forever now while being blissfully aware or in denial about it. Just like “that guy” that comes around and posts his idiotic stuff from time to time. They don’t care who they hurt or how they go about their idiocy.
A smart negotiation would take the jet, never use it or even try to refit it, maybe fly on it once or twice and then stick it in the museum so everyone can enjoy it it on a trip to the president’s library. Trump proved his speech again with this trip that most Americans, especially Democrats don’t understand Middle Eastern culture, just like he said in his speech.
^This^. A big ol’ nothing burger. It’s being given to the grubermint, not to Trump, and what the grubermint does with it is no matter to the gifter. And no matter what the size of a gift is, or who the gifter is, it is an insult to refuse a gift given in the spirit of…giving. Take the damn plane, say Thank you, and put it to work doing something…but not with The AF One Designation (which is used in any aircraft the prezzy happens to be on).
Maybe Nancy Pelosi can use it to fly back home on the weekends, of course it would have to be retrofitted with a massive wet bar.
I’d also point out the mass celebrations in Syria the last two days over the President’s visit and cancellations of sanctions against the new Syrian government. This has been completely ignored by Western media that bitched about it for years. Once again I will point out what a terrible Nazi Trump is for easing sanctions. He doesn’t seem to understand how fascism works.
I see hundreds of these “gifts” on display at the Central Command (and subordinate SCCs) Headquarters every time I visit, the display cases are loaded with them. If we have to have an Air Force 1 display model, why not accept one from a friendly foreign government, repaint it, change out the interior, and put in some “prop” equipment to look like the stuff we actually use.
All they have to do is service it and make sure it is flight worthy. I guess they technically have to fly once with the president on board so it can be called Air Force 1. Save your money on ECM, radio communications, and missile protection (unless its the fake kind for display purposes).
Share.
How is Boeing going to meet the order of 160 (iirc), yet can’t produce 2 747s for the home market on time or on budget? Will the doors stay attached in flight?
Look, I have no flight experience, no time in the air, no ability to take off, fly, or fucking land a 747…
So, just give the fucking thing to ME.
I can have some SOB get it in the air for me, and I can fly it for a bunch of hours, then hand it over to some fuck sticks who can land it so I can hit a local hotel with a few stews with long legs, nylon stockings, and plenty of little bottles of “Airplane Fuel” where we can plot a fleet course to the next flight station on moon base alpha when we wake up in the morning.
Interesting that the 747 Aircraft gift was being looked at during the biden’s time but wouldn’t be ready for Herr biden to take it and the lame stream shitbird media isn’t mentioning that unless they didn’t know that but I’m sure that they did like they said that Herr biden was banging on all 8 cylinders.
But…but…
Thats what Tattoo on Fantasy Island said when he opened his box of M&M”s
Actually, this a brilliant idea that should not be wasted, and I am taking full credit for the idea. AF1, Marine One, and whatever the POTUS is flying always flies with a duplicate airframe to provide ‘camouflage’ to protect the HMIC’s movements. Just paint this one up to look like the others, and put it on permanent decoy duty. Hell, fly the effing press in the decoy bird to enjoy the luxuries and maybe they’ll not hate the POTUS…as much. I even a great name: Air Faux One.
I like it.
Hack Stone would have to be firmly on the side of saying “Thank you for this generous offer, however, due existing government regulations, it would be best to decline your offer. Perhaps you can find a suitable charity that could benefit from your generosity.”
No way we should accept it. As stated above, disassembling the aircraft to search for listening devices would cost more than any financial benefit we would reap. And what’s to keep some rogue Intelligence Officer in their military planting a bomb? They are (allegedly) our allies, but so is Pakistan, and they smile as they take our money while they are providing support to terrorists.
One buys your wares, the other begs for it for free.
It should be obvious which is your friend.
They do host Hamas leadership too. With friends like that…
LOVE the Air Faux One idea.
The thing that baffles me is why is it taking boing so many years to make the new jet??? I am sure some change requests are in play but they have been working on it since 2018.