A letter someone sent to Josh Marshall:
My feeling about Qatar gifting Trump a 747 is simply that it is just embarrassing for the United States. The US can afford and can build its own state-of-the-art Air Force One. The US doesn’t need a gift from a little country of a used plane that is out of production and largely used for freight. It’s not becoming of the United States nor the President of the United States. It’s just embarrassing.
I’m reading that retrofitting of the plane to have Air Force One capabilities and being sure there are no bugs or other security risks built into it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And it will probably take at least a couple of years. The plane may not be ready for Trump to fly before his term ends. And even a lot of Republicans are opposed to accepting the “gift.” Never mind the emoluments clause thing. This transaction may be doomed. We’ll see.
But the bribe may have already done its job. There are all manner of news stories out today reporting on a rift between Trump and Netanyahu. And it so happens Qatar is a major supporter of Hamas. Hmmm.
A senior Hamas official tells Newsweek that the Palestinian militant group saw “positive” potential in signs of a growing rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after offering the U.S. leader a political win in the form of an American hostage release ahead of his Middle East trip.
“Given the unlimited support of the American administration for the entity, any disagreement between them would certainly be a positive development that would weaken Netanyahu’s stubborn position and open the door to the possibility of reaching an agreement to end the war,” Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson Basem Naim told Newsweek.
“This is especially true since the continuation of the war does not serve Trump’s strategic projects in the region,” he added, “and Hamas will not accept any agreement that does not lead to an end to the war, ensure the withdrawal of hostile forces and rebuild the Gaza Strip with the participation of its residents.”
During his first major overseas trip this week, President Donald Trump is set to visit three countries in the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — without stopping in Jerusalem.
From embarking on nuclear talks with Iran to attempting hostage talks with Hamas without Israel’s knowledge, Trump has increasingly sidelined Netanyahu, stoking anxieties in a country long accustomed to being consulted by successive U.S. administrations.
Last week, Israelis thought they saw more cracks emerge between the “America First” president and Israel, after Trump said he had struck a truce with Yemen’s Houthi rebels that curbed the group’s attacks on U.S. ships — but did not cover Israel. Days later, reports emerged that Trump was considering offering Saudi Arabia access to civil nuclear technology without demanding that the kingdom normalize relations with Israel, a precondition that had been set by President Joe Biden.
And so on. Let’s face it — the Trump family can make a lot more money dealing with the Arab states than with Israel. I guess Trump has given up on his luxury Gaza development plan.
