The Dictatorship
As Trump struggles to defend Qatar’s luxury jet ‘gift,’ Republicans are divided
With just weeks remaining before Election Day 2016, Donald Trump faced off against Hillary Clinton for the third and final presidential debate of the cycle, and the Republican seemed eager to talk about the Clinton Foundation — or more specifically, it’s Middle Eastern donors.
“Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries,” Trump said. “You talk about women and women’s rights? So these are people that push gays off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money.”
After the election, the president continued down the same path, spending part of his first term condemning Qatar as a regressive state-sponsor of terrorism.
His attitudes apparently evolved over time, however, especially as the Trump Organization pursued business opportunities in the Middle East. Now, nearly a decade after Trump condemned Clinton for being the indirect beneficiary of Qatari generosity, the Republican is eager to accept a superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from his friends in Qatar.
A New York Times analysis highlighted the ways in which the president is raising red flags about corruption that eclipse some of the dramatic controversies from his first term.
The administration’s plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family is only the latest example of an increasingly no-holds-barred atmosphere in Washington under Trump 2.0. Not only would the famously transactional chief executive be able to use the plane while in office, but he is also expected to transfer it to his presidential foundation once he leaves the White House. The second Trump administration is showing striking disdain for onetime norms of propriety and for traditional legal and political guardrails around public service.
The analysis added that Trump doesn’t fear legal consequences, since Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices effectively elevated the presidency above the law, and he doesn’t fear congressional accountability, because obedient GOP lawmakers hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.
It’s that latter point that’s of particular interest.
“The deeply chilling part of this bribe and national security betrayal from the president is just how blatant and erroneous what he’s doing is,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said as the controversy intensified. “He’s almost daring Republicans to stand up to him and defend our country.”
The New York Democrat added, “So, where are our Republican friends with this kind of egregious, grubby, awful self-enrichment?”
It’s hardly an unreasonable question. This apparent arrangement raises legal, ethical, political, mechanical, financial, and national security concerns. Are there any GOP lawmakers prepared to acknowledge reality?
To date, no Senate Republicans have publicly called on the White House to reject the “gift,” but some came close. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, for example, described the plan as “a mistake” and “not worth the appearance of impropriety.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also sounded a note of skepticismwhile Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called Qatar’s offer “pretty strange.”
But other GOP partisans were quick to say what the president wanted them to say. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, for example, compared the jet to France gifting the U.S. the Statue of Liberty — I don’t think he was kidding — while Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma suggested Congress would gladly approve the arrangement.
My personal favorite was Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who said“‘Gosh, let me give you a plane.’ I mean, that seems pretty nice, but they support Hamas, so I don’t know.”
As the president continues to struggle to come up with a coherent defense, Senate Democrats are planning to force a vote in the coming days on a resolution disapproving of the plan. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
In an explosive interview with NBC aired Sunday, President Donald Trump cut the grilling short and left the set after peppering “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker with insults.
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker, who kept a cool demeanor despite the president’s barrage of disparaging slurs.
Moments before he attacked her, Trump — without providing any evidence — said he believes elections in the U.S. are rigged. Then he lambasted television news networks, singling out NBC, CBS and ABC.
“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” Trump said.
“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker shot back. “But let’s continue.”
“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” the president told Welker, who is the second woman and first Black journalist to helm the network’s flagship program.
Trump added, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
It was not the first time Trump has berated a female journalist on the job covering his presidency.
In November 2025, he told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to stop talking, saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” One month later, he told ABC’s Rachel Scott she was “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.” Last month, he called MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner “a dumb person” for pointing out that the cost of his White House ballroom project had doubled since it was first announced.
He has also repeatedly lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collinscriticizing her for not smiling enough.
The wide-ranging interview, which was taped last week on a farm in Wisconsin, was interrupted by the loud sound of heavy rain on the metal roof of the barn where they met. Welker questioned Trump on his war with Iran, his “anti-weaponization” fund and the upcoming midterm elections.
On his nearly $1.8 billion fund aimed at compensating people who say they were wrongly prosecuted, including Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, Trump said “people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated.”
He described the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as people who were “being ushered into the building” by law enforcement.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the fund last month and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week the administration would not be moving forward with the fundwhich faced bipartisan backlash.
When asked if the administration would pursue other avenues to revive it, Trump said he does not know what will ultimately happen and called Welker and her network “the fake dirty press.”
Despite campaigning on a promise to end foreign wars, Trump denied that he made such statements. He characterized the Iran war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
When asked about the rising cost of living as a result of the war, specifically gas and fertilizer, Trump chastised Welker.
“Are you ready? Am I allowed to talk? You keep asking questions and you don’t listen to the answers,” he said.
“I love the farmers and the farmers love me,” Trump said, adding that prices will come down after the war.
Welker suggested to her viewers Sunday that she and the president had a cordial conversation Saturday, saying they both “acknowledged the complications” posed by the rain. “He agreed to sit down with me for another ‘Meet the Press’ interview,” she said.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Iran said visas were denied to key members of its national soccer team ahead of the World Cupwhich a U.S. official insisted was necessary so that Iran does not try to “sneak terrorists into the United States.”
In a post on Xthe Iranian embassy in Turkey said “visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others” on its team.
“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy said, accusing the U.S. of the “worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport” and “depriving Iran’s national team of its right to play in the World Cup under normal conditions.”
Iranian officials are accusing the U.S. government of violating FIFA regulations and breaching its obligations as one of the host countries of what is widely regarded to be the biggest sporting event in the world. The diplomatic standoff between the two countries comes just days before the World Cup is set to kick off and more than three months after the U.S. and Israel waged war against Iran.
A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the subject told MS NOW in a statement that the visas “necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.”
The official added, however, “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
The statement from the Iranian Embassy in Turkey came in response to a post on X by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack praising embassy staff for processing visas for the Iranian national team.
According to The Associated Presssome of the team’s officials have not received visas to enter the U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Games are set to begin Thursday.
Problems with getting U.S. visas had already led Iran to move its World Cup training base from the U.S. to Mexico. But Iran is still listed on the official World Cup schedule to play its first two games in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, and against Belgium six days later before heading to Seattle to face Egypt.
The Iran Football Federation’s secretary-general and its vice president were among 14 staff and officials without U.S. visas, AP said, citing Iranian state television. The federation reportedly accused the U.S. of “vindictive behavior.”
Emily Hung contributed to this report.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
A shooting near a community festival in Toledo, Ohio, wounded at least 12 people, and police said a search for the suspects was ongoing following an outbreak of gunfire that sent crowds scrambling for cover.
Two of the wounded were in critical condition, Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said. He said it appeared there were at least two people firing weapons who were “probably shooting at each other.”
The Toledo Police Department said the shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours in a historic district of the city.
The department said an active search was underway for those responsible.
“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Toledo tonight. Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.
Multiple videos posted to social media showed people running over the sound of gunshots and emergency officials tending to others who appeared wounded.
Kevin Berry said he was sitting in the neighborhood arboretum listening to live music with his friends when he heard a handful of gunshots ring out.
“Everybody hit the deck,” he said.
When he looked back up, he saw a gun being tossed to the ground less than 50 feet (15 meters) away from him. Police officers who were already on-site for the festival immediately responded to the scene.
Berry, who has medical training and served in the U.S. Navy, said he walked around the area looking for potential victims who might need help.
He said he saw at least five people with gunshot wounds.
“The folks who were hit were spread out around the arboretum area,” he said.
The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that includes live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping.
Berry described it as the “kick-off to Toledo’s summer festival season.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- Capitol agenda: Five days to save FISA
- Treasury intends to use Iranian assets for Gulf allies to rebuild: CBS report
- Bob Packwood, Oregon senator forced to resign due to sex scandal, dies at 93
- Los Angeles mayoral race narrows to Bass, Raman with Pratt loss
- Raman within 2 points of Pratt in LA mayoral vote count
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship9 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words