The U.S. government has officially taken ownership of the “unconditional donation” of a jet from Qatar. I’m a steadfast, super supporter of President Trump. I voted for him three times, and have been a vocal defender and advocate, but I still call a spade a spade when he does something I believe is wrong.
And as I wrote before, this “free” Qatar 747-8 plane deal is a bad idea and just keeps getting worse. And the left is having a field day. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow screams: “Trump skims nuclear safety funds to spruce up vanity gift plane from Qatar.”
This, because the plane’s refurbishment may use a billion dollars in funds initially allocated to build our next land based nuclear intercontinental ballistic — the already hyper-expensive “Sentinel.”
Delays and cost overruns have pushed the Sentinel’s cost to more than $125 billion. A Pentagon estimate last year found the project’s cost could grow to $160 billion. So, what’s a billion less?
In my earlier piece I noted that the cost to refurbish the 10-year-old $400 million luxury jet and bring it to minimal presidential operational and security standards would be prohibitively expensive – estimates range from Trump Team’s $400 million to the more realistic figure of one billion dollars.
Recall, in addition to being an executive presidential jet, Air Force One is a flying nuclear war command post. The many modifications needed will include classified, hardened, secure communications, anti-missile systems and added engine capabilities.
There is also the matter of purging the jet of any hidden foreign eavesdropping and surveillance devices that may be embedded into the structure of the aircraft.
It will also take a year or two to complete the upgrades needed.
And since the two brand-new Boeing planes already being custom built to serve as Air Force One will finally come into service in a couple of years, and Trump will leave office in 2029, and take the plane with him to his yet-to-be created presidential library, the entire effort just stinks.
But now things appear even worse.
Even as DOGE righty slashes government waste, and Trump criticizes the cost of renovating the Federal Reserve headquarters in D.C. — between $2.5 and $3 billion, the Trump team is trying to hide the cost of upgrading the very temporary new Air Force One.
Ironically, the Air Force is willing to discuss the cost of building a new generation of nuclear missiles, but not the cost of renovating the president’s aircraft.
As The New York Times reports, the cost of refurbishing a “free” Air Force One from Qatar has been classified. But, while the lack of transparency is bad enough, where the money may be coming from is even worse. The Defense Department appears to be diverting nearly a billion dollars ($934 million) from a critical nuclear modernization project to fund Trump’s temporary official plane.
It’s hard to hide a billion dollar secret, even in a black budget.
The Times adds:
In recent weeks, congressional budget sleuths have come to think that amount, slipped into an obscure Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill as a “transfer” to an unnamed classified project, almost certainly includes the renovation of the new, gold-adorned Air Force One that Mr. Trump desperately wants in the air before his term is over. (It is not clear if the entire transfer will be devoted to stripping the new Air Force One back to its airframe, but Air Force officials privately acknowledge dipping into nuclear modernization funds for the complex project.)
I love Trump, but I really wish he would not have made this really bad deal and hadn’t skimmed nuclear funds to pay for it. But even more, I wish he hadn’t given the left another talking point.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Yaaaaawn.
The President had made so much money for not only this country, but plenty of other countries.
He deserves a modern Air Force One.
I’m sure, “We” can handle the cost of this plane while we wait indefinitely on BOEING to learn how to honor a contract.
Let the bitches cry.