Conservative commentator Michael Knowles says concerns about an extravagant gift from a foreign country for President Donald Trump's use are overblown, and that what some are calling a bribe is actually just a great deal on a necessary replacement item.
00:00To say this is a gift to the United States, when this is going to go probably fly for a year because they're going to dismantle this thing at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, so Donald Trump can fly in it in one year, and then something you call Air Force One, all of a sudden one year old goes to his library? That doesn't feel right.
00:26Oh, well, I'm happy to join in the chorus of complaints about this. I guess my complaint is a little bit different. My only complaint about the Qatari gift to the government of the United States is that they're not offering us an even nicer one, you know, but the one they're offering us is pretty good.
00:42You know, it's pretty simply a gift to the United States in as much as Qatar is giving it to the government of the United States. It will be flown for a short period of time. Obviously, there will have to be a lot of safety inspections. They'll have to slap some new paint on the side.
00:55And then it will go to Trump's presidential library.
00:57Ah, more than new paint.
00:58This is where Reagan got a plane.
00:59Why is it going to the library if it's going to be Air Force One and the taxpayers are going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to completely disassemble this jet and then reassemble it for security and other reasons?
01:14Why does it fly for one year and not just stay in the fleet and be Air Force One?
01:20The reason that the plane has to come to the United States in the first place is because we've already ordered multiple Air Force One airplanes.
01:27Unfortunately, Boeing has failed to make good on its promises to the United States and on its contracts.
01:33So Trump is saying it's preposterous for the United States to be flying a 40-year-old Air Force One.
01:38It works.
01:39And if Qatar is going to give us a 400-
01:40It's a safe plane, Michael.
01:41It's a safe plane.
01:42And again, this saying that it's a free gift is ridiculous.
01:47I mean, Michael.
01:48How is it ridiculous?
01:48You really believe that there are no strings attached and that the government of Qatar is never going to come and knock in and say,
01:59hey, remember that nice jet we gave you and that there's not going to be some transaction?
02:03No, not at all.
02:04Because what you guys are confusing this with, you seem to think that this is like Hunter Biden going around and accepting foreign bribes to personally enrich his family.
02:11Oh, I think it's worse.
02:12This is totally different.
02:12I think this is worse.
02:13I think this is way worse.
02:15How is this worse?
02:15He is cutting basic programs for people to live where they can eat and where they can get health care.
02:23How much does an Air Force One jet cost when you actually buy it from Boeing?
02:27We're buying it anyway.
02:28We're buying it anyway.
02:29We're still buying it.
02:30But they're not supplying the airplanes.
02:31So Trump is filling in a stock gap.
02:33They're delayed.
02:33And it's going to the presidential library just like Air Force One went to the Ronald Reagan presidential library.
02:37No, no.
02:37Oh, dude.
02:38Nothing is unusual.
02:38Hold on.
02:39No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
02:41The jet that went to the Ronald Reagan library was in service for several decades.
02:45They got the bang for their buck.
02:47We're getting one year and it goes to his library.
02:50Bang for our buck.
02:51And when they took that plane, there was a new plane that Boeing had provided, the new 747.
02:57That's not a 747 at the Reagan library.
02:59Right, that's what we're waiting on for right now.
02:59So let him use the damn 747 he's got right now, which works just fine.
03:05You know, we are the United States, right?
03:07You know that it would be nice for us to have good, productive, impressive airplanes.
03:12And to Trump's point on this, he says, look, we're going to, we're just going to take the putt.
03:16We are nuzzling up to Qatar, which is horrific when it comes to human rights.
03:21And I could give you a list, but I don't, we don't have time.
03:24Saudi Arabia, we're nuzzling up to Russia.
03:28We're nuzzling up now.
03:29But did you just see the contradiction, Harvey?
03:30We're nuzzling up to Syria right now.
03:32And we are attacking Canada.
03:34We are attacking France.
03:36This is not my country anymore.
03:39The country that I thought we had.
03:40Saudi Arabia has been a U.S. ally for many decades at this point.
03:43This has nothing to do with Trump, but I think you just showed a contradiction here.
03:46As long as they don't cut the heads off of journalists, right?
03:48No, they cut, well, off of Saudi spies, like in the case of Jamal Khashoggi.
03:51But I think you've just shown a contradiction, which is you're saying Trump's cozying up to Qatar,
03:56and Qatar is going to expect something in return.
03:58Did you see the Teslas?
03:58Not one day.
03:59Did you see the Teslas that followed him to the palace?
04:03Tesla's a very, very prominent company.
04:05You're smiling, Michael.
04:08It just looks ridiculous.
04:10It's a very profitable company.
04:11But what you're forgetting, Harvey, is not one day after everyone's losing their minds
04:15that we're sucking up to Qatar because we're accepting a generous gift of an airplane,
04:19which is a good deal, not one day after that,
04:21Trump signs the biggest arms deal in history with Saudi Arabia, which is an enemy of Qatar.
04:25What I can't understand about all of this, because this is really what kicks off the Middle East tour,
04:29is we're being told that Trump is committing some heinous violation of the emoluments clause
04:34because he's accepting investment from foreign countries or because he's accepting a gift of an airplane.
04:39But is the argument that Trump needs a big airplane?
04:41Trump has personally flown around on his own 757 long before he was president.
04:46So why does he need this brand new 747?
04:49He's not personally benefiting from this.
04:50No one has saved more money by reforming the government than President Trump through Doge,
04:54a point you just made because you were complaining about it.
04:57But then even if you say it's going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to refit the plane
05:00or slap some paint on it and do security checks, that's fine.
05:02That means we're saving, what, $1.6 billion because the cost from Boeing is $2 billion.
05:08And if they had just fulfilled the contract in the first place, we wouldn't be here.
