“Indefensible.” “It’s a bribe.” “Such a stain” on the administration.
Some of Trump’s biggest supporters are going public with their opinions that accepting a jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One is not ‘right.’
One Trump superfan echoed the sentiment that accepting a $400 million gift from the emirate isn’t “America First.”
“Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest—that is not America first,” argued conservative pundit Ben Shapiro during the most recent episode of his show. “It just isn’t America first in any conceivable way.”
“If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop,” he added.
“Qatar is not our friend,” activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer said, calling reports about the planned gift “concerning” and a ‘stain’ on the administration.
‘A $400 million plane is not a gift, it’s a bribe,’ Batya Ungar-Sargon, a conservative commentator and frequent FOX News guest reacted.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz also has questions about the plane’s security.
‘I think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems,’ Cruz said on CBNC. ‘We’ll see how this plays out but I certainly have concerns.’
Some of Trump’s biggest allies in the Senate have expressed misgivings about the Qatari luxury jet being used as Air Force One.
“I’m not flying on a Qatari plane,” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told The Hill. “They support Hamas.”
How did Trump respond to the criticism?
“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. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA,” he wrote on Truth Social.